Workshop of Guido Durantino, from The Punic War Series, Italian, Urbino, circa 1550 - 1560

Probably Medici collection, Florence, perhaps by 1588; 

Probably Orelli family, Locarno, Switzerland (before 1735);

Christie's London, 22 June 1965, lot 48; 

Christie's London 4 June 2013, lot 6. 

R. E.A. Drey, 'Istoriato maiolica with scenes from the Second Punic War. Livy's history of Rome as source material' in T. Wilson (ed.), Italian Renaissance Pottery, Papers written in association with a colloquium at the British Museum, London, 1991, p.54, No. XXXIII and p.60, fig. 11. 

This plate is rare and important as it belongs to a group of numbered maiolica istoriato pieces from a service depicting the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage in 219-217 B.C; the numbers recorded on the plates range from 47 to 111 and the present plate is the highest number recorded.

The literary source is from Livy’s History of Rome, books XXI to XXX, begun in 27 B.C. (Titus Livius, Padua, 59 B.C. - 17 A.D.) The ambition, the consistent quality of the painted scenes and the elegance of the inscriptions, all suggest that this plate was once part of a very high-status service, possibly even for the Medici Grand-Dukes of Tuscany.

It is likely that the service was commissioned and executed in the leading workshop of Guido Durantino (alias Fontana) in Urbino in the 1550s or early 1560s. The series comprises plates of various shapes and trilobate basins (see Marino Marini, Maioliche e ceramiche del Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Turin, 2024.) Thornton and Wilson (Italian Renaissance Ceramics: a catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London 2009, Vol I.) emphasize that the service may have been made for, or acquired not long after it was made, by the Medici. 

The three rinfrescatoi a triangolo (trilobated basins) in the Museo del Bargello, Florence (see Marino Marini) are listed in the 1588 inventory of the Medici Collections at the Casino di San Marco, Florence and the 1784 Medici inventory appears to contain some identifiable pieces from this service. 

Thornton and Wilson have discussed whether this service was painted by one artist or a team of artists (see Italian Renaissance Ceramics: a catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London 2009, vol. I.) and concluded that, because this consistent style of painting and the inscriptions, the service is likely to have been executed by a single painter, although the painting aligns with “house style” seen in the istoriato wares produced by the Fontana workshop. 

J.V.G. Mallet suggests, as a possible artist, one of the most prolific painters of the Fontana workshop in the 1540s-1550s who painted the extensive set with landscapes and arms of the Salviati family (see lot 107). Even if the original destination of the service does not appear to be documented, the quality indicates a princely or high-status commission. On some plates, an oval shaped patch in the sky, in paler blue, might suggest the intention to include a coat of arms, but was then either not painted or scraped away and repainted before the second firing. The likely explanation is that the patron or intended recipient of the service changed during manufacture. 

Rudolf Drey (1991) discussed the service, identifying and describing this particular plate, which is inscribed on the reverse with "No. XXXIII." While the narrative aligns with Livy, the depicted scenes do not correspond to, nor are they derived from, known woodcut illustrations in the Italian translations of Livy. It is likely that the complex narrative sequence of the plates and the inscriptions on the reverse (arranged in the form of rhyming couplets beginning with the word Annibale, often preceded by a number from XI to XXXIII) were provided by a scholar or advisor. 

To illustrate the that the set was once part of the Medici collection, a 1735 letter from a visitor to Locarno in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland, reports in Thornton and Wilson (2009, pp. 326-237) sheds light on how certain Florentine maiolica pieces were preserved. The writer describes seeing a cupboard full of maiolica dishes illustrating the story of Hannibal, once offered a price comparable to fine silver. These pieces had originally belonged to a Grand Duke of Florence but were salvaged by a man from Centovalli after a fire in the duke’s palace. This man brought the pottery back home, where it was eventually offered to the local magistrate—father of the Orelli brothers. The magistrate contacted the Grand Duke, who replied that the dishes should only be returned if the set was still complete; otherwise, they could be kept. Since the set was deemed incomplete, it remained in Locarno.

This anecdote suggests that the series likely consisted of numbered plates, and the perception of incompleteness implies missing elements from a once-larger narrative cycle. It is probable that many of the forty-one known plates, now dispersed in various collections, including the two referenced here, originally belonged to this group taken from Florence.

RELATED LITERATURE

M. Marini, Maioliche e ceramiche del Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Turin, 2024, No. 249 a/c, pp.194-195; 

T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica Painting. Catalogue of a private collection, Turin, 2018, no.139; 

C. Ravanelli Guidotti, “Protagonisti del collezionismo della ceramica a Faenza tra ‘800 e ‘900,” Faenza, XCVI, 2010, No. 1-6, pp. 23-83; 

D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A catalogue of the British Museum Collection, Vol. I, London, 2009, No. 192, pp.326-28;

J.V.G. Mallet “In Botega di Maestro Guido Durantino in Urbino,” The Burlington Magazine, May, 1987, p.294.