Drug Jar thumbnail 1
Drug Jar thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Drug Jar

ca. 1475 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (maker)
Place of origin
Naples (city) (made)

Pinky-buff body of waisted albarello form with blue lines around the shoulders. Below the rim, blue lines witha band of 'S' motifs. The front painted with a portrait in blue, orange, green and purple with a banner on the left inscribed 'SANCZONE'. The back painted with heavy scrolls in blue, purple and orange. The base bears a label of the C.DAMIRON collection.


Object details

Categories
Ceramics
Maiolica
Object type
Drug jar
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware
Earthenware
Brief description
Drug jar (albarello) of buff earthenware covered with a tin glaze and painted in colours with a portrait of Arnaldo Sanczone. Italian (Naples), about 1475.
Physical description
Pinky-buff body of waisted albarello form with blue lines around the shoulders. Below the rim, blue lines witha band of 'S' motifs. The front painted with a portrait in blue, orange, green and purple with a banner on the left inscribed 'SANCZONE'. The back painted with heavy scrolls in blue, purple and orange. The base bears a label of the C.DAMIRON collection.
Dimensions
  • Taken from register height: 30cm
Marks and inscriptions
'SANCZONE' (Painted on the left hand side.)
Gallery label
  • Drug jar (albarello) depicting Portrait of Arnaldo Sanczone Made in Naples, Italy about 1475 SANCZONE Tin-glazed earthenware C.209-1983(16/07/2008)
  • Drug jar, Naples, about 1470(2010 (TAB))
Credit line
Bought
Object history
Purchased by Cyril Humphris, for £9,692.55, from the Sothebys sale of the Lurigne Collection of Lyons and the Charles Damiron collection (26 April 1983, cat.15).
Sold Sothebys also 16/6/38.
Production
Naples, about 1475.

For the original attribution of these drug jars to Naples, see Guido Donatore, 1971. Also Donatone, 1993 : albarello painted after 1470, by the "Master of the Cappella Brancaccio", in the Castelnuovo factory. Perhaps portrait of Arnaldo Sanczone.

John Mallet, "Alcune Maioliche faentine in raccolte inglesi." Faenza, Anno LX, P. 7. P. 18.
Subject depicted
Sanczone, Arnaldo
Bibliographic references
  • Donatone, G. La Maiolica napoletana del Rinascimento. Napoli, 1993. tav.31
  • Mallet, John. Alcune Maioliche faentine in raccolte inglesi. Faenza. Anno LX. 7 p., 18 p.
  • Donatone, Guido. Maioliche Napoletane della spezieria aragonese di Castelnuovo. Naples : L. Regina, 1970.
  • Similar Object: Collection de Majoliques du XVe au XVIIe siècle, provenant de la succession de Madame Jean-Pierre Guerlain, sale catalogue, 31 January 2017, Paris-Drouot Reichelieu Fig.4 Albarello Naples, c.1470 Est. sale price: 30-40,000 euros
Collection
Ceramics Collection
Accession number
C.209-1983

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Record createdJuly 16, 2008
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O161853/drug-jar-unknown/
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