Current Location: Gallery 6 (Upper Marlay): case 3, shelf A
Titles
Maiolica dish with a broad rim
Maker(s)
Maker:
'Assumption Painter'
Entities
Categories
Description
Painted in polychrome, with a man being fired at by arrows in a landscape, being released or tied up by a young woman
Earthenware, tin-glazed greyish-white overall. Painted in dark blue, pale blue, pale green, yellow, orange, and opaque white. There are three small spur marks in the well. Shape approximately 59 (Poole 1995), slightly convex in the middle. Circular with a broad rim, and deep curved well, slightly convex in the middle.
The central medallion contains a landscape in which a stream of arrows speeds towards a young man who is bound to a stake, while a young woman is either tying him up or releasing him. The sides are decorated with bianco sopra bianco and orange Vs between rows of simulated beading. On the rim are grotesques reserved in a dark blue ground: four labels inscribed `1520', each flanked by cornucopiae and scrolls and surmounted by a winged putto's head, alternating with four grotesque masks, each flanked by dolphin scrolls and surmounted by a palmette. The rim is yellow.
The middle of the back is painted in blue with three concentric circles, crossed by two lines. One quarter contains a small circle, the other three an arrow pointing towards the centre. Radiating from the base are two rows of blue petals, the inner row transversely striped in blue and the outer in orange. The spaces between the petals are filled with blue transverse lines, and three narrow concentric blue bands encircle the edge.
Notes
History note: Sir Otto Beit; Sir Alfred Beit; Sotheby's, 16 October 1942, Catalogue of important Italian majolica, the property of Sir Alfred Beit Bt, MP, lot 22.
Legal notes
Purchased with the Leverton Harris Fund
Measurements and weight
Diameter: 28.6 cm
Height: 4.0 cm
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bought
(1942)
by
Sotheby's
Dating
16th Century
Production date:
AD 1520
: dated
School or Style
Renaissance
People, subjects and objects depicted
Materials used in production
in dark blue, pale blue, pale green, yellow, orange, and opaque white
High-temperature colours
Tin-glaze
Earthenware
Techniques used in production
Tin-glazing
: Earthenware, tin-glazed greyish-white overall. Painted in dark blue, pale blue, pale green, yellow, orange, and opaque white. There are three small spur marks in the well.
Painting
Inscription or legends present
- Text: 1520
- Location: On rim
- Method of creation: Painted in blue
- Text: 711
- Location: On the base
- Method of creation: Red paint
References and bibliographic entries
-
Catalogue of the Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Possession of Mr Otto Beit
page(s): pp. 69-70
-
The Italian Exhibition, III, Maiolica
page(s): p. 21
-
Maiolica at the Exhibition of Italian Art
page(s): p. 76
-
Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900
page(s): pp. 425-6
-
A Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of Italian Art held in the Galleries of the Royal Academy, Burlington House, London, January-March, l930
page(s): p. 319
-
La raccolta Beit di maioliche italiane
page(s): p. 5
-
Corpus della maiolica italiana, I, Le maioliche datate al l530
page(s): p. 43
-
Catalogue of important Italian majolica, the property of Sir Alfred Beit Bt, MP
-
Italian Maiolica and Incised Slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge
page(s): pp. 252-253
-
Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks, Italian Maiolica
page(s): pp. 48-9
-
Italian Maiolica in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria
page(s): 72-3
Related exhibitions
Identification numbers
Accession number: EC.36-1942
Primary reference Number: 80787
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Saturday 14 March 2020
Last processed: Wednesday 14 May 2025
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
