Italian, Duchy of Urbino, perhaps Castel Durante dated 1543[?]

Shallow Bowl

Auction Closed

February 2, 05:19 PM GMT

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from a Swiss Private Collection

Italian, Duchy of Urbino, perhaps Castel Durante dated 1543[?]

Shallow Bowl

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

diameter: 8 ½ in.; 21.5 cm.

with low foot, painted with the bust of a young woman and adorned with the winding banderole inscribed LV DI VICA, interspersed with foliage, and with a semi-concealed date of 1543.

London Art Market, 1970s;

Paolo Brisigotti, London;

Christie's Paris, 13 December 2006, lot 91.

Coded messages are regularly found in Renaissance art, and maiolica painters often used hidden signatures or dates (see lot 609). In the present elegantly painted bowl, the date of 1543[?] appears to be inscribed on the left side of the banderole.

RELATED LITERATURE

B. Rackham, Catalogue of Italian maiolica in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1940, 2 vols.;

M. Ajmar and D. Thornton, ‘When is a portrait not a portrait? Belle Donne on Maiolica and the Renaissance Praise of Local Beauties,’ in N. Mann and L. Syson (ed.), The Image of the Individual. Portraits in the Renaissance, London, 1998, pp. 138-153;

T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Miaolican Painting, Catalogue of a Private Collection, Turin, 2018.

We are grateful to Professor Timothy Wilson and Mrs. Greta Kaucher for their invaluable contributions to the research on this entry.