Bottle thumbnail 1
Bottle thumbnail 2
+7
images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Bottle

ca. 1590 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Pilgrim-bottle with four loops, the two upper moulded each with two grotesque masks. Painted with grotesque decoration. On the sides are two shields bordered with baroque scrollwork and ensigned with the Medici crown. They are charged respectively with the arms of Medici and Lorraine with quarterings. They are surrounded by a ring of female terminal figures set radially with outstretched arms holding festoons of drapery; between the figures are various motives including a crown, an owl, a swan, a violet plant in blossom, a fish, parrot, a magpie, a stag, a dog, a hare, and formal ornaments. On the rounded edges between the loops are oval medallions painted to imitate cameos with naked female figures.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware, painted in enamels
Brief description
Pilgrim-bottle with four loops, the two upper moulded each with two grotesque masks, tin-glazed earthenware, made in Urbino, Italy, about 1590
Physical description
Pilgrim-bottle with four loops, the two upper moulded each with two grotesque masks. Painted with grotesque decoration. On the sides are two shields bordered with baroque scrollwork and ensigned with the Medici crown. They are charged respectively with the arms of Medici and Lorraine with quarterings. They are surrounded by a ring of female terminal figures set radially with outstretched arms holding festoons of drapery; between the figures are various motives including a crown, an owl, a swan, a violet plant in blossom, a fish, parrot, a magpie, a stag, a dog, a hare, and formal ornaments. On the rounded edges between the loops are oval medallions painted to imitate cameos with naked female figures.
Dimensions
  • Height: 40.5cm
  • Width: 30.5cm
Gallery label
Bottle Made in Urbino, Italy Tin-glazed earthenware 322-1854(16/07/2008)
Object history
Previously thought to be from the Walpole Collection. Strawberry Hill sale catalogue Christie's, April 1843, lot 53. (see curators comments).
Production
Similar case with dragon handles, "PISA" in cartouche under handles (referred to by Fortum), ill. in Detroit Institute of Fine Art, Exhibition Decorative arts of the Italian Renaissance, Nov. 1958-Jan.1959, No. 129, p. 50, fig. on p. 61

Of photos of two bottles in Robert Bok Collection, New York (Photos in Dept., V & A). See also article by G. Cora, Faenza No. 1-3 1964 H. 25-30, where Pisa is ruled out on grounds of the early date, 1591, written underneath one of Bok's pieces.

Probably lot 38 in Christies, 1777 (Broderick) acc. to A.V.B. Norman.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Rackham, Bernard Catalogue of Italian maiolica, London : H.M.S.O., 1977 (Printed by Billing & Sons), Vol. 1, Cat. No. 951.
  • Rackham, Bernard. Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, London : H.M.S.O., 1977
  • Giov. Conti, " La Maiolica del Museo del Barghello" in Faenza LV (1969) III-VI, p. 59
Other number
951 - Rackham (1977)
Collection
Accession number
322-1854

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Record createdJuly 16, 2008
Record URL
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