Italian, Faenza, circa 1540 - 1570

Angela von Wallwitz, Munich;

Christie's London, The Pottery of Princes: An Important Private Collection of Italian Maiolica, 5 July 2012, lot 89;

Where acquired.

Gubbio, Palazzo Ducale, La Via della Ceramica tra Umbria e Marche, June 2010 - January 2011, no. 4-11.

E. A. Sannipoli et al., La Via della Ceramica tra Umbria e Marche, Maioliche Rinascimentali da Collezioni Private, Gubbio, exh. cat., Città di Castello, 2011, p.320.

This type of lobed, moulded bowl on a low foot is called crespina or coppa farcita; it was composed with a three-dimensional trompe l’oeil composition of fruits and vegetables which were used as centrepieces for table decoration. 

These crespine are the Faentine version of the baskets and vases in glazed terracotta produced in the Della Robbia workshop in Florence at the beginning of the 16th century and were in fashion from the 1540s. 

For a similar example in the British Museum with the mark of Enea Utili of Faenza (inv. AF.3206, see Thornton and Wilson, 2009, vol I, no. 101. p.157).

RELATED LITERATURE

D. Thornton and T. Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics: a catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, vol I, No. 101, p.157;

M. Ajmar-Wollheim, F. Dennis, and E. Miller, At home in Renaissance Italy, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2006, fig. 15.3, p.209; 

C. Ravanelli Guidotti, Thesaurus di opere della tradizione di Faenza, Faenza, 1998, p. 367, fig.3.