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

Plate

ca. 1530 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Plate, painted in dark blue, opaque white, yellow, orange, copper green and dark red. In the middle, in a medallion with a border of beads, are three men in a classical dress - a priest with a patera, a flute-player, and another sacrificing a pig at an altar between two trees, below, the initials C P. On the rim in reserve heightened in white on a dark blue ground, a symmetrical repeating design of winged masks, pairs of dolphins and scrolls. On the back, four sketchy flower motives separated by zigzag rays, and the 'fire-wheel' of the Casa Pirota, also the initials BP scratched through the enamel to the body before the firing of the enamel.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware, painted
Brief description
Plate depicting three men in classical dress, initial C P, on the rim masks, dolphins and scrolls, made in Faenza, about 1530, tin-glazed earthenware
Physical description
Plate, painted in dark blue, opaque white, yellow, orange, copper green and dark red. In the middle, in a medallion with a border of beads, are three men in a classical dress - a priest with a patera, a flute-player, and another sacrificing a pig at an altar between two trees, below, the initials C P. On the rim in reserve heightened in white on a dark blue ground, a symmetrical repeating design of winged masks, pairs of dolphins and scrolls. On the back, four sketchy flower motives separated by zigzag rays, and the 'fire-wheel' of the Casa Pirota, also the initials BP scratched through the enamel to the body before the firing of the enamel.
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 24cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'BP' (Signature Incised before firing. In Gothic script on the back.)
  • Sketchy flower motif, and fire-wheel of Casa Pirota (Painted in blue on back)
  • 'CP'
Gallery label
Plate Made in Faenza, Italy About 1530 Incription: 'C P' Mark: a crossed circle with a smaller circle inside, painted in blue and 'BP' incised in the glaze before firing Tin-glazed earthenware C.2096-1910 Salting Bequest(16/07/2008)
Credit line
Bequeathed by George Salting, Esq.
Object history
Castellani Collection. Castellani Sale, Christie's, 12 May 1871, Lot 112, B.F.A.C. Cat., 1887, no. 192.
Production
The method of marking (inscribed in glaze before firing) is close to that of Rackham 284.
Bibliographic references
  • Rackham, Bernard. Catalogue of Italian maiolica. London : H.M.S.O., 1977.
  • Rackham, Bernard. Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, London : H.M.S.O., 1977
Other number
282 - Rackham (1977)
Collection
Accession number
C.2096-1910

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Record createdJuly 16, 2008
Record URL
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