Probably by the Amazon painter, Italian, Faenza, circa 1560-1570

Possibly Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; 

Probably acquired by Sir Andrew Fountaine (1676-1753), Narford Hall, Norfolk, circa 1720;

Probably by descent to Andrew Fountaine III (1770-1835) Narford Hall, Norfolk;

Descent to Andrew Fountaine IV (1808-1873), Narford Hall, Norfolk, where it was recorded in the 1835 inventory as being on Shelf Three in the ‘Octagon Closet’; 

Fountaine sale, Christie’s London, 16-19 June 1884 (Third Day sale) lot 344, bought by Martin Colnaghi for £21;

Fine Meissen, Sèvres and other Continental Ceramics and Glass, Bonhams London, 17 May 2006, lot 21; 

Rainer Zietz Ltd., London;

Where acquired. 

A. Moore, “The Fountaine Collection of maiolica”, Burlington Magazine, 130, no. 1023 (June 1988), p. 446 (no. 344).

The Amazon Workshop takes its name from a plate in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig with Hercules battling the Amazons. It is the piece that allows for several attributions of the work of the Amazon Painter to Faenza (see a plate, marked 1561 in FAENCA painted with a battle of Roman chivalry in the Louvre, inv. no. OA1449; Giacomotti, 1976, no.927). See J. Lessmann, Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, Italienische Majolika, Katalog der Sammlung,1979, p. 116, and C. Ravanelli Guidotti, Faenza-faïence. Bianchi di Faenza 1996, pp. 350-351. A group of similar crespine attributed to the workshop of Virgiliotto Calamelli is in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum Brunswick, see Johanna Lessmann, (op. cit., 1979 nos. 31-38). 

The scene depicted on this plate is a refined interpretation of a classical episode linking the heroic age of myth with Renaissance humanist ideals. The mounted figure at the centre is identified as Alexander the Great, shown in all’antica armor, approaching the tumulus of Achilles. This scene is partially described in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander section 15, part 8 where the author mentions the moment when Alexander the Great made a symbolic pilgrimage to the Troad, the region believed to be the site of ancient Troy (in present-day Turkey). There, he paid homage to Achilles by visiting his tomb. According to several versions of this story, Alexander the Great deposited copies of Homer’s writings within the mound, venerating Achilles as his role model in courage and martial virtue. This version is illustrated in Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving and a plate with the same story was sold in these rooms on 02 February 2024, lot 634. 

The provenance of this crespina can be traced to an 1835 inventory of Narford Hall, compiled by Andrew Fountaine IV, in which it is stated that the collection was acquired by his grandfather, Sir Andrew Fountaine, and noted that it was originally part of a collection obtained or exchanged with Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. According to Fountaine IV, Cosimo parted with a substantial portion of the Medici collection, originally assembled by Lorenzo de’ Medici, Duke of Urbino for the Florentine royal collection. In this inventory, the crespina is listed as item 18 and briefly described as depicting “a man on horseback, others looking into a tomb.”

Andrew Fountaine IV later expanded the family’s collection and relocated it to a purpose-built space known as the China Closet. This crespina was also included in his second catalog of the collection, referred to as the “Family Book”, compiled between 1855 and 1873, where it appears as entry number 115.

RELATED LITERATURE

J. Lessmann, Italienische Majolika, Katalog der Sammlung, Brunswick, 1979, nos. 31-38, pp.106-110. 

J. Giacomotti, Catalogue des majoliques des musées nationaux, Paris, 1976, pp. 142-144, nos. 481-487.