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The Contest between Apollo and Pan: C.88-1961

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Titles

The Contest between Apollo and Pan

Maker(s)

Painter: Avelli, Francesco Xanto
Printmaker: Raimondi, Marcantonio (After)
Printmaker: Dente, Marco (Marco da Ravenna) (After)

Entities

Categories

Description

Maiolica dish on low foot. Painted in polychrome with The Contest between Apollo and Pan.

Buff earthenware, tin-glazed overall; the reverse pale greyish-beige. Painted in blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, stone, brown, manganese-purple, black, and white.
Shape 79 with vertical edge to foot. Circular with low curved sides and flat centre, standing on a low foot.
The Contest between Apollo and Pan. In the middle, Apollo, holding a lyre, sits in front of a tall rock. Pan reclines on a river bank in the foreground. On the left, two elderly bearded men, one wearing a cloak, stand in front of a variegated marble column at the end of a building. On the right a bearded man wearing a turban, steps forward pointing his left hand towards the two men opposite. On the extreme right there are two trees, and in the background, distant mountains and sky. The edge is yellow. The back is inscribed in the middle in dark blue: `.1531./De Apollo & Pa gli musi/cali acceti./.favola./fra
Xanto, Au: Ro/vigiesei Urbino/pi:' (About Apollo and Pan the musical accents. fable. francesco Xanto, Avelli Rovigiese in Urbino Pinse:). A yellow band encircles the outer edge.

Notes

History note: Unknown before donor, Louis C.G. Clarke, MA, LL.D (1881-1960), Leckhampton, Cambridge

Legal notes

L.C.G. Clarke Bequest

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 26.7 cm
Height: 5.6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1961-04-27) by Clarke, Louis Colville Gray

Dating

16th Century
Production date: AD 1531 : dated

Note

The decorator, Francesco Xanto, was a freelance maiolica painter, who usually created scenes by combining figures from prints. The figures here were taken from four prints: Apollo from Parnassus by Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael; the man on the right from Simon in Christ in the House of Simon the Pharisee by Marcantonio after Raphael but reversed on the dish; the two men on the left from the Martyrdom of St Lawrence by Marcantonio after Baccio Bandinelli; and the reclining figure of Pan probably from the Battle of the Romans and Carthaginians, engraved by Marco Dente after Raphael or Giulio Romano.

School or Style

Renaissance

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, stone, brown, manganese-purple, black, and white)

Materials used in production

Tin-glaze
Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Moulding : Buff earthenware, tin-glazed overall; the reverse pale greyish-beige. Painted in blue, turquoise, green, yellow, orange, stone, brown, manganese-purple, black, and white.
Tin-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: .1531./De Apollo & Pa gli musi/cali acceti./.favola./fra Xanto, Au: Ro/vigiesei Urbino/pi:
  • Location: Reverse, in middle
  • Method of creation: Inscribed in dark blue

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.88-1961
Primary reference Number: 76280

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 30 April 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "The Contest between Apollo and Pan" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76280 Accessed: 2025-12-05 13:46:01

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76280 |title=The Contest between Apollo and Pan |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 13:46:01|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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