Orazio Fontana (1541-1571) Workshop, Urbino, circa 1565-1571

Collection baron Achille Seillière, Paris;

Galerie Georges Petit Sale, Paris, 5-10 May 1890, lot 41;

Sotheby's London, 15 December 1999, lot 57;

Pandolfini, Florence, 28 October 2014, lot 54;

Where acquired.

D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. I, no. 197, pp.333-336;

H. Tait, “Ormolu-mounted maiolica of the Renaissance: an aspect of the history of taste” in T. Wilson (ed.), Italian Renaissance Pottery, papers written in association with a colloquium at the British Museum Collection, London, 1991, pp. 267-277);

J. Chompret, Répertoire de la majolique Italienne, Paris, 1949, p. 193, no.1029.

The present vase, relevant for its documentary importance (see Hugh Tait, op.cit., pp.268-271), is one of only three known istoriato vases with the very rare triangular foot terminating in semi-circular brackets and including an inscription from the workshop of Orazio Fontana. An ovoid vase with twin snake handles and mask terminals, is now part of the Waddesdon Bequest at the British Museum and bears a similar inscription on the base (Thornton and Wilson 2009 , op. cit., no. 197). A second vase, marked FATTO IN BOTEGA DE Mo ORATO FONTANA, which in the nineteenth century belonged to the London connoisseur-dealer Alexander Barker, was sold in these rooms 29 June 1964, lot 6. It was subsequently recorded in the De Polo Collection in Trieste and sold at Pandolfini in Florence, 28 October 2014, lot 54. That vase has been restored in the area between the main part of the body and the foot, like the present piece.

This vase shows a manner of painting similar to that of lot 127 (Day sale), displaying a typical Fontana workshop style but they are most likely decorated by different painters.

ORAZIO FONTANA

Orazio, was son of Guido Durantino, the most important workshop owner in Urbino, located in San Polo district; they adopted the family name of Fontana by 1541. Subsequently, Orazio became the most famous name in Urbino maiolica and described in the words of the Urbino writer Bernardino Boldi at the beginning of the 17th century: “nobilissimo in quella [arte] del far Vasi di terra cotta e porcellana fu Horatio Fontana” (Baldi, op. cit. 1706, pp.130-131).

Later in his life, Orazio was the prime exponent in the development of white ground-grotesque maiolica services commissioned by Duke Guidobaldo “as gifts to great lords, the King of Spain and the Emperor himself,” as noted by Baldi.