The Holy Family: MAR.C.60-1912

Titles

The Holy Family

Maker(s)

Possibly Milan Marsyas Painter (Painter)
Possibly Xanto, Francesco (Painter)
After Caraglio, Giovanni Giacomo (Printmaker)
After Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola) (Painter)

Description

Maiolica cover from an accouchement set bowl, painted in polychrome with the Holy Family.

Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed overall. Painted in blue, turquoise-green, yellow, orange, black, grey, and white. Circular with a flange on the underside; the upper surface flat with a convex rim.
The Holy Family in an architectural setting; on the rim, bound leaves and berries between concentric yellow bands. On the back, two putti standing on clouds support a shield bearing the arms sable, a fess or, a chief party per pale gules and argent two rosettes counterchanged flanked by the letters `ELI' and `PYA'; below, a winged putto's head. The background is blue above the arms and brown below. The flange and rim are yellow.

Notes

History note: Signora Angela Beni, San Severino (Marche); given by her to Giuseppe Ranaldi (1790-1854). Alessandro Castellani; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 28 May 1878, Catalogue des faïences italiennes . . . et de deux pièces de la célèbre porcelaine des Medicis, composant l'importante collection de M. Alessandro Castellani, lot 292; C.B. Marlay before 1887.

Legal notes

C.B. Marlay Bequest

Place(s) associated

• Urbino ⪼ The Marches ⪼ Italy

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley

Dating

Second quarter of 16th century
Renaissance
Production date: circa AD/CE 1531

Note

If not painted by the 'Milan Marsyas Painter' this was probably painted by Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo

Label text from the exhibition ‘Feast and Fast: The Art of Food in Europe, 1500–1800’, on display at The Fitzwilliam Museum from 26 November 2019 until 31 August 2020: Cover depicting The Holy Family from a (lost) accouchement set\nfrom a (lost) accouchement set Recovery from childbirth – the most dangerous experience in most women’s lives – required nourishing food, like sweetmeats or broths. In Italy, these were traditionally served from a maiolica set given to the new mother during her post-natal confinement period, often by her husband. It usually comprised 5 stacked pieces: a standing bowl and cover (that doubled as a plate), a footed drinking bowl, and a salt and its cover. The Nativity scene beautifully painted onto the upper side of this cover (tagliere) was meant to inspire the new mother, who would have looked to the Virgin and St Anne as models of motherhood. The reverse is painted with two putti, the family’s coat-of- arms, and the initials, ‘ELI’ and ‘PYA’, thought to be the name of the father, ‘Elisio Piani’, a government official in early sixteenth-century Urbino. Probably ‘Milan Marsyas Painter’, Le Marche, Italy, c.1531, after an engraving by Giovanni Giacomo Caraglio (c.1505–65) after Parmigianino (1503–40).

Label text from the exhibition ‘Madonnas and Miracles: The Holy Home in Renaissance Italy’, on display at The Fitzwilliam Museum from 7 March until 4 June 2017: This cover is the surviving part of a set of painted ceramic pieces traditionally given by a father to celebrate the safe delivery of his child. The nativity scene includes Mary, Joseph and a female saint; the central figure embracing the new-born Christ has no halo and may be a midwife. The scene is based on an engraving from a design by Parmigianino.

The Holy Family on the top of the cover was derived from the Adoration of the Shepherds, engraved by G.G. Caraglio after Parmigianino

School or Style

Renaissance