This is one of twelve roundels showing the Labours of the Months, which formed part of the ceiling decoration of the studietto (or little study) of the Florentine banker Piero de’ Medici. Though based in part on traditional medieval representations, some relate more closely to a text on agriculture by the 1st-century Spanish writer Columella.
The decoration was said to create ‘the greatest admiration in whoever enters the room’ and doubtless reminded Piero of country life at the family villas.
The design of each roundel is based on contemporary agricultural practice as well as descriptions of agriculture in classical texts - one important source being Columella's De Re Rustica, a 1st century treatise that appears in Piero's inventory on 1465. The light and dark blue around the border indicate the periods of light and darkness. The hours of daylight are noted on the right. At the top of each tile is the sun in the appropriate house of the zodiac.
Recent restoration has revealed that the tiles were not round but square. Each has ribs along the back. These add strength to the tile, and also reduce the bulk of the clay to prevent problems in firing. The curve of each panel allows us to determine where it would have been placed within the barrel-vaulted ceiling.
The study that Piero de' Medici created in the family palace in Florence was a miniature treasury, famous throughout Italy. According to the architect and sculptor Filarete, 'the floor as well as the ceiling [was] enamelled with most worthy figures, so that whoever enters is filled with admiration'. These glazed terracotta scenes, which look like drawings on blue-prepared paper, formed part of the rich ceiling decoration. Luca's use of pigments and glazes to produce these unique works was an extraordinary technical achievement.
Physical description
Medallion or roundel, 'The Labours of the Months; September', blue, white and yellow tin-glazed terracotta. The roundel shows the labours of one of the twelve months, here September - a youth gathering grapes; with the sign of Libra. The circular border is coloured dark and light blue to indicate the relative periods of light and darkness and has an inscription giving the number of daylight hours. At the top of the roundel is the Zodiac sign for Libra, and opposite it a crescent moon. The roundel is bordered with a white leaf-moulding in low relief.
Place of Origin
Florence, Italy (made)
Date
ca. 1450-1456 (made)
Artist/maker
Luca della Robbia, born 1399 - died 1482 (maker)
Materials and Techniques
Tin-glazed terracotta
Marks and inscriptions
DIES (left), ORE (right) (numeral 12 eliminated by a break), SEPTEMBER (base)
Dimensions
Height: 61.5 cm, Width: 60.5 cm, Depth: 9.5 cm, Weight: 20.9 kg
Object history note
The roundel is one of a series of 12 showing the Labours of the Months. Each scene is set within a circular border coloured light and dark blue to indicate the period of light and darkness relevant to the month and with an inscription giving the number of daylight hours. At the top of each roundel is the sun in the appropriate House of the Zodiac and opposite it the crescent moon.
This and the other roundels seem to have been commissioned from Luca della Robbia about 1450-56 to decorate the ceiling of the study of Piero de' Medici in the Palazzo Medici in Florence. This study was a miniature treasury, famous throughout Italy.
Historical context note
According to descriptions by Vasari and by architect and sculptor Filarete in his Treatise on Architecture, the floor of this room was also composed of glazed terracotta tiles. The room was destroyed in the course of the reconstruction of the palace after its sale (1659) to the Riccardi. From the axis of the curvature of the twelve roundels it may be inferred that the study of Piero de' Medici was a small room with a barrel vault some ten feet wide and sixteen feet long and that the roundels were set in three rows of four. According to Filarete, 'the floor as well as the ceiling [was] enamelled with most worthy figures, so that whoever enters is filled with admiration'.
Descriptive line
Roundel, 'The Labours of the Months - September', blue, white and yellow tin-glazed terracotta, by Luca della Robbia, Italy (Florence), ca. 1450-56
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1861 In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 12
Maclagan, Eric and Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture. Text. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1932, p. 34
Pope-Hennessy, John. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Volume I: Text. Eighth to Fifteenth Century. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1964, p. 111
Pope-Hennessy, John. Luca della Robbia. Oxford, 1980, pp. 42-5, 54, 240-2, col.pls. x-xiii, pls. 63-71
Raggio, Olga. Catalogue of Italian Sculpture in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Art Bulletin. Vol. L, 1968, p. 100
Gentilini, Giancarlo. ed. I Della Robbia, La Scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento. Florence: 1992, illus. p. 109, pp. 110-111, p. 140 note 18, p. 161 note 37, p. 164 note 21
Pianazza, Murielle. 'Giovan Pietro Campana Collezionista, Archeologo, Banchiere e il suo legame con Firenze', in Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XXXVII (1993), 2/3, p. 452
Patterson, Angus, Fashion and Armour in Renaissance Europe: Proud Lookes and Brave Attire, V&A Publishing, London, 2009, ISBN 9781851775811, p. 31 ill.
Labels and date
SEPTEMBER from the Labours of the Months
About 1450-6
Luca della Robbia (1399/1400-82)
As was traditional for the month of September, a young man gathers grapes. Reaching up, he rests one foot on a curving vine for balance. A donkey laden with filled buckets waits with his head to the grass. The flowers in the field provide balance to the vine leaves in the trellis.
Italy, Florence
Tin-glazed terracotta (maiolica)
Museum no. 7640-1861 [2008]
THE LABOURS OF THE MONTHS from Piero de' Medici's study
The study that Piero de' Medici created in the family palace in Florence was a miniature treasury, famous throughout Italy. According to the architect and sculptor Filarete, 'the floor as well as the ceiling [was] enamelled with most worthy figures, so that whoever enters is filled with admiration'.
These glazed terracotta scenes, which look like drawings on blue-prepared paper, formed part of the rich ceiling decoration. Luca's use of pigments and glazes to produce these unique works was an extraordinary technical achievement. [2008]
SIX ROUNDELS with the Labours of the Months
The design of each roundel is based on contemporary agricultural practice as well as descriptions of agriculture in classical texts - one important source being Columella's De Re Rustica, a 1st-century treatise that appears i Piero's inventory of 1465. The light and dark blue around the border indicate the periods of light and darkness. The hours of daylight are noted on the right. At the top of each tile is the sun in the appropriate house of the zodiac. [2008]
Materials
Terracotta
Techniques
Tin glazing
Subjects depicted
Grapes; Vines; Moon; Autumn; Youth; Seasons; Time; Sickle; Saddles; Libra; Tubs; Mule (animal)
Categories
Ceramics; Sculpture
Collection code
SCP
