Patanazzi Workshop, Italian, Urbino, circa 1593-1598

German Private Collection, Munich; 

Rainer Zietz Ltd., London, 2010;

Where acquired. 

This plate was probably made on 3 March 1593 at the time of the marriage of two the members of two Augsburg families: Ursula Mayr or Mayer and Christopher Christell who died in 1598. The arms are normally reversed with the husband’s coat of arms on the left (heraldic dexter) and the wife’s on the right (heraldic sinister). The reversal of the arms in this example, which does not occur on other plates presumably from the same set, may be just a painter’s error. Szczepanek discusses the group of Urbino services made for interconnected wealthy families in Augsburg (2004, op. cit. pp. 87-111). 

RELATED LITERATURE

A. V. B. Norman, Catalogue of Ceramics 1, Pottery, Maiolica, Faience, Stoneware, Wallace Collection, London, 1976, pp.231-232, no.C 113;

J. E. Poole, Italian Maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, no.431, pp.401-402;

G. Szczepanek, “Italienische Majoliken mit Wappen Augsburger Familien (1515-1605)”, Keramos, 186, 2004, pp.87-111.