Tin Glaze

Milan Turin

Bassano del Grappa

Verona Trento

Padua

Venice

Lodi Pavia

Savona Albisola Genoa

Mantua Parma

Modena

Bacchereto Cafaggiolo

Pisa

Rovigo

Ferrara

Bologna

Faenza Ravenna

Rimini Forlì

Florence Montelupo

Ancona Pesaro Urbino Castel Durante (Urbania)

Siena Arezzo Gubbio Fabriano Loreto

Assisi Perugia

Acquapendente Deruta

Orvieto

Viterbo

Castelli

Bassano Romano

Rome

Naples

Brindisi

Laterza Vietri sul Mare

Taranto

Sciacca

Messina Palermo

Syracuse Caltagirone

Map of Italy with major cities and historic centres of maiolica production

RARE BEAUTY: RENAISSANCE MAIOLICA IN AUSTRIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND COMPLEXES

Ceramic finds are one of the most important tools for dating archaeological finds. Two fundamental characteristics give ceramics the reputation of being “both a blessing and a curse” for archaeologists: On the one hand, the tendency of potters in all epochs to change the forms of their vessels from time to time (one might add, dictated not only by function but also by fashion), and on the other, the impossibility of recycling clay objects once they have been fired. The wealth of ceramic remains thus permits archaeologists to establish chronology systems that are often the sole means of dating archaeological finds—which is indeed a “blessing.” However, the huge quantity of ceramic material discovered demands a concomitantly massive effort for its scientific processing, constituting the “curse” side of the equation: The sheer mass of material available is one of the greatest obstacles to analyzing archaeological finds.

This is especially true of historical epochs since the late Middle Ages, epochs in which ceramics production occasionally reached early industrial proportions. Amongst the plethora of locally produced ceramic vessels from the Middle Ages and Early Modern era, “alien” objects or those of complex design stand out particularly; such decorated ceramic objects have been sought after by collectors and museums since the nineteenth century and to this day are prominently represented in museums1

However, in archaeological find complexes dating from the Middle Ages and the early modern era, such ceramic objects survive largely only as small fragments, originating as they do mostly from domestic waste, construction rubble, and the like in settlement contexts. It is thus more gratifying when the objects from abroad that are discovered are larger, better-preserved, and more straightforward to date. Such a case prompted a short analysis of archaeological finds of Renaissance Italian tin-glazed earthenware in Austria2

TWO VENETIAN MAIOLICA PLATES FROM CASTLE ORTH ON THE DANUBE

In 2004, an archaeological excavation took place during extensive reconstruction and renovation work at Castle Orth on the Danube in Lower Austria3. Although the excavation was severely limited by the

extent of the planned construction work, an interesting find was made in a section on the north east corner of the castle, a sewer constructed of bricks with attached collecting tank, whose backfilling yielded valuable finds4. Besides an almost fully preserved glass goblet, dated to the second third of the sixteenth century, the finds included large fragments of two maiolica plates, whose similarity indicated that they were probably manufactured in the same workshop. They had obviously also been displosed of together.

Based on their greyish-blue glaze and cobalt blue brushwork, both plates could be identified as berettino ware5; their white a foglie decoration in particular speaks for a Venetian origin6 [fig. 1]. The somewhat coarse brushwork on these two items from Orth suggests that they were manufactured in the late sixteenth century, very shortly before 16007, although the size of the missing area makes it difficult to make a precise stylistic judgement. On their display side, one can make out a two-dimensional design consisting of oak-leaf-shaped foliage with some roundish-oval fruits, surrounded by a stylized foliate border around the edge. The reverse has a ring of overlapping pointed arches around the sides8

Both these extraordinary finds fall within that period of Castle Orth’s history corresponding to its ownership by the noble families of Salm and Zinzendorf—undoubtedly the heyday of this fortress located on the Danube to the east of Vienna. Both the Counts of Salm and the Lords of Zinzendorf maintained close personal ties with northern Italy and Venice, from which one can deduce that the plates found their way to Orth thanks to these contacts. Whether the plates (and the glass goblet) were thrown away as the result of a change of ownership around 1600 cannot be determined.

MAIOLICA FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIND COMPLEXES IN AUSTRIAA PRELIMINARY RÉSUMÉ

Research on the plate fragments from Orth has revealed that hitherto scarcely any record exists of find complexes containing northern Italian maiolica of similar age in Austria. In contrast, archaeological parallels certainly are available from the Adriatic9, Slovakia10, Germany11, and the Netherlands12, as well as in museums. This prompted me to conduct

a broad-based survey among colleagues researching in this field to determine the existence of such finds within the Republic of Austria. Although the results of this spontaneously organized survey cannot of course be considered representative, they provide initial insights into the topic under discussion—insights that are highly enlightening.

The author is aware of only two verified archaeological finds of Renaissance maiolica in Vienna, a city that was, after all, by that time the residence of the Holy Roman Emperor and thus undoubtedly an important market for imports of high-quality maiolica13. These are fragments of a footed bowl and a plate, attributed to a workshop in Faenza in the second half of the sixteenth century14. Both pieces were discovered in layers of earth levelled for the construction of the new Vienna University (1623 to 1654), a prominent location. Otherwise, it appears that no Italian maiolica has been unearthed by the numerous —in part extensive and high-yield—excavations of past decades in Vienna’s inner city. Even if one considers that in most cases the find complexes still await scientific evaluation, preliminary investigations point to their being an almost total lack of maiolica products on the Viennese market of that time.

A small painted fragment from the Charterhouse of Mauerbach (Lower Austria) has likewise been identified as “probably Italian maiolica,” although its origin cannot be verified from the illustration available15. Otherwise, the author is not aware of any such finds from Lower Austria,16 nor from the Burgenland,17 Styria,18 or (remarkably) the Tyrol19 or Vorarlberg. But the situation is completely different in Carinthia, Upper Austria, and Salzburg.

Finds of Italian tin-glazed earthenware from the early modern period in Carinthia are obviously rare, though they do occur20. For instance, a fragment of a maiolica vessel (a jug or a carafe) was recently recovered during a conservation excavation near a patrician townhouse in Villach and was identified as originating from Faenza or Urbino in the fifteenth century. The find has been interpreted as evidence of the property’s prosperity under the Khevenhüller family in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries21

Archaeological find complexes in Upper Austria are clearly much richer in northern Italian maiolica22, even though current even though current literature on them on them is quite sparse. What is remarkable

1 See Glaser 2000, pp. IX–XVIII; Heege und Kistler 2017, p. 32.

2 The author would like to thank Timothy Wilson and Rainald Franz for inviting him to write the present contribution.

3 An evaluation of all currently available sources on the archaeology, archives, and building history of Castle Orth took place as part of a project of a project extending over many years, whose results have been recently published. See Hofer et al. 2021.

4 The sewer and its backfill have been dated to excavation phases 7 and 8 (second half of the sixteenth to end of the sixteenth/early seventeenth century (Hofer et al. 2021).

5 Jaspers 2009, pp. 3–5. Many thanks to Andreas Heege for identifying the plates’ Italian origin and to Nina Linde Jaspers for further valuable information, in particular on Venetian maiolica.

6 Jaspers 2009, pp. 5–6; Jaspers 2011, p. 15.

7 See, for instance Jaspers 2009, p. 7, fig. 8 (dated 1580–1625).

8 Very similar plates in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg have been dated between 1550 and 1568: Glaser 2000, pp. 234–35, 237.

9 Examples include the Gnalić (Croatia) shipwreck of 1583, see Mileusnić 2006, pp. 106–07, fig. 8 (“Maiolica berettina”); Piran (Slovenia), see Guštin 2006, p. 31, fig. 6/4 (sixteenth to seventeenth century); Central Dalmatia, see ZglavMartinac 2006, p. 137, 139 (sixteenth century); Stari Bar (Montenegro), see Zagarčanin 2004, pp. 105, 115, fig. 125; p. 124, fig. 154.

10 Španihel 2015 (thanks to Nina L. Jaspers for this reference).

11 For instance, from Stralsund: Samariter 2016.

12 Jaspers 2011.

13 Many thanks to Ingeborg Gaisbauer, Karin Kühtreiber, and Thomas Kühtreiber for providing information on this point.

14 Kühtreiber 2006, vol. 1, pp. 219–20; vol. 2, p. 229, fig. 42/A548–A549 (thanks to Thomas Kühtreiber).

15 Kreitner 1998, p. 378 (thanks to Martin Krenn).

16 Many thanks to Martin Krenn, Gabriele Scharrer-Liška, and Ute Scholz for sharing this information.

17 Many thanks to Nikolaus Franz for sharing this information.

18 Many thanks to Johanna Kraschitzer and Manfred Lehner for sharing this information.

19 Many thanks to Johannes Pöll and Harald Stadler for sharing this information.

20 Many thanks to Manfred Lehner und Claus Vetterling for sharing this information.

21 Friedrich und Vetterling 2019 (thanks to Claus Vetterling for sharing this information). From Castle Ras (Gradišče na Turnah near St Jakob im Rosental; thanks to Manfred Lehner for sharing this information) originate fragments of a jar, possibly identifiable as maiolica arcaica from the late Middle Ages. The find is currently being researched by Anna Fercher as part of an MA dissertation.

22 Many thanks to Heinz Gruber, Alice Kaltenberger and Christina Schmid for sharing this information.

Fig. 1 Maiolica finds from Castle Orth on the Danube, Lower Austria

is that the finds that have come to the author’s attention all stem from castles: Oberwallsee near Feldkirchen23, Burg Waxenberg near Oberneukirchen 24 , and Windhaag near Perg: This last-mentioned find features a plate with what appears to be a mythological motif, very likely manufactured in Urbino25. One may cautiously surmise that in Upper Austria ownership of maiolica was more widespread amongst the nobility than was the case (based on our present knowledge) in, for instance, Lower Austria.

But the find complexes with the richest yields of Italian faience are clearly to be found in the city of Salzburg26. Two almost completely preserved plates were recovered on the site of the Toskanatrakt—built between 1607 and 1614—of the archbishop’s residence. The plates were found in the massive cesspits of two patrician houses dating from the late Middle Ages, which in 1605 had had to make way for construction of the new Toskanatrakt. In the cesspit of House no. 1—owned before its demolition by the prominent burgher and innkeeper Philipp Schinagl—Venetian glass and a maiolica plate were unearthed, the latter identified as manufactured in Faenza Faenza, alongside large quantities of other ceramic fragments (including imports from Germany).27 The second plate was found in the cesspit of House no. 4, part of the Wispeckenhof, the property of Heinrich Venediger (“the Venetian”!). This plate, however, has been identified as earlier ceramica graffita and dated in the first half of the sixteenth century28 [fig. 2].

A second qualitatively and quantitively even more spectacular find complex came to light in an excavation at the Salzburg SchatzHaus (Getreidegasse 3 and 3a). In the sixteenth century, this property was owned by the renowned patrician families of Ritzinger and Rauchenperger29. The extremely numerous high-quality finds, made of various materials, were recovered from the backfilling of a cellar that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was additionally used as a cesspit. Besides numerous imported objects from Germany, the find included many maiolica jars, several of which were clearly made in Venice30. Of particular interest are a number of plates (some of them almost undamaged) featuring a foliate decoration very similar to that on the finds from Orth on the Danube, thus very likely originating from the same workshop and establishing a possible link between the two locations [figs. 3, 4]

In summarizing the current state of knowledge gleaned from the Salzburg finds, one may conclude that northern Italian maiolica was used in the city’s patrician households in the sixteenth century, together with Venetian glassware. A comparable concentration of maiolica ware has hitherto not been recorded elsewhere in Austria.

CONCLUSION: BEAUTY IS RARETHOUGH NOT EVERYWHERE

Before summing up this short review, it is necessary once again to emphasize two things. First of all, this synopsis of Renaissance maiolica finds in Austria is by no means representative, merely reflecting information available to the author or communicated to him by colleagues. It is thus possible that other (perhaps many) unknown or unpublished maiolica finds await discovery in various locations. Secondly, it must be emphasized that a truly accurate attribution of the objects described to specific Italian workshops would require art-historical—and above all scientific—analysis that was too intensive to be realized within the scope of this article.

The spectrum of finds presented here nevertheless seems to permit certain conclusions to be drawn, in particular regarding the quantity of finds in the individual federal states of Austria and the specific circumstances surrounding the finds themselves. Judging by the current state of research and literature, it is clear that Salzburg, Upper Austria, and Carinthia are the major areas of maiolica distribution, followed by Vienna and Lower Austria with only a few individual items each, then finally the Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Styria, and Burgenland with none at all. The large number of items found in Salzburg is undoubtedly due to the city’s close trading ties with Venice31, obviously including trade in ceramics. The city’s geographical proximity to Upper Austria possibly contributed to some of these imports finding their way to that area. In the case of Carinthia, on the one hand its proximity to northern Italian production centres, and on the other, the traditional importance of Salzburg in this former duchy must also have played a role.

If one now considers the circumstances surrounding the finds, in Salzburg maiolica was clearly to be found in the households of patrician merchants, possibly because they themselves were involved in the maiolica

Fig. 2 Incised slipware plate with male portrait from the former Wispeckenhof in Salzburg, inv. no. ARCH_1568-86

Fig. 3 Maiolica plate with floral motif from the Schatz-Haus in Salzburg, inv. no. ARCH 2024-94 >

trade. On the other hand, maiolica finds in other locations are primarily linked to the aristocracy—such maiolica wares were veritable prestige objects whose acquisition was possible only for a certain class of buyer. However, personal connections to Italy, such as were maintained by the Counts of Salm and the Lords of Zinzendorf in Orth on the Danube, perhaps accounted for their acquiring of maiolica from that source. Perhaps while staying in northern Italy they discovered and learned to appreciate the magnificent colours of maiolica tableware.

In any case, Renaissance maiolica from northern Italy is a conspicuous—if for the most part rare—guest in Austria’s archaeological excavations. But precisely this circumstance makes it an extremely interesting research subject, since it is not only datable with relative precision but also affords some remarkable insights into the representation efforts of sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century upper-class society.

24 Thanks are due to Heinz Gruber.

25 Reiter 2012, p. 85 (thanks to Heinz Gruber). Fragment of a plate with yellow edging and probably a mythological scene in the centre. The style is strongly reminiscent of a plate from Urbino in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (Glaser 2000, p. 132, fig. 129a).

26 Many thanks to Ulli Hampel (Salzburg Museum) for pointing out the Salzburg finds, and to Holger Wendling (Salzburg Museum) for sharing the photo material.

27 Kovacsovics 1989/90, pp. 18–27, 306.

28 Kovacsovics 1989/90, pp. 30–34, 357–358.

29 Husty and Rinnerthaler 2008, pp. 10–11.

30 Kovacsovics 2008. The rich amount of material from the excavation has only to a small extent been evaluated. See Ruttner 2008. Considering its quality and excellent condition, a complete appraisal of the find is greatly to be desired.

31 See Wilk 2013, p. 89 (with additional literature).

23 Venetian maiolica (thanks to Alice Kaltenberger).

Fig. 4 Maiolica finds from the Schatz-Haus in Salzburg (inv. nos. ARCH 2021-94, ARCH 2029-94, ARCH 2004-94, ARCH 2020-94, ARCH 2003-94, ARCH 2005-94, ARCH 2032-94, ARCH 2001-94)

CASE 3 LUSTREWARE FROM SPAIN

Tin-glazed pottery with metallic lustre, which had been practised across the Islamic world for centuries, reached a high point in the fourteenth century at Malaga, in the Nasrid kingdom of Andalusia, where a series of majestic lustred jars were made to decorate the Alhambra Palace in Granada. By 1400 the industry’s centre of gravity was moving up the east coast of Spain to the Christian kingdom of Valencia, especially to the town of Manises, near the port city of Valencia; the potters mostly remained of Islamic faith or descent.

Among the best clients of the Valencian potters were the rich merchant families of Tuscany; ambitious lustreware services with the arms of these families were ordered through Italian merchants operating in Spain. For the first time, Italians were introduced to the idea that pottery could be a beautiful domestic art-form, not simply functional, lowstatus crockery. These prestigious lustred imports came to be known to Italians as “maiolica ware,” apparently assimilating the Spanish phrase for lustre, obra de malica (Malaga ware) to the name “Maiolica” of the commercial entrepot of Majorca, not far offshore from Valencia. In due course the word “maiolica” came into wider use in Italy to describe any tin-glazed pottery, the sense it retains today.

In German (but not in English or French) the term Majolika has usually been taken to include Spanish lustreware as well as Italian wares. The two types have often been collected together.

Valencian lustreware is represented in this case by a magnificent basin with arms linked to the Spanish royal family, once in the Obizzi collection at Catajo near Padua.

Bibliography: Caiger-Smith 1973; González Martí 1944–1952; Ray 2000; Spallanzani 2006.

15

Lustreware basin

Spanish (Manises or Paterna), c1500 MAK, KHM 240

Source: KHM

Provenance: Obizzi-Este collection (E 8634)

Tin-glazed overall; painted in golden-brown lustre Ø 50.2; D 14.2 cm

Condition: broken and repaired, with some patches not in-painted. Conservation work at Universität für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 2021/22

Bibliography: none

Deep basin, the sides and rim in moulded relief. Painted in lustre on the upper surface and sides with dense patterning including chain motifs, plant ornament, and lattice designs with small roundels. In the centre a shield of arms, Castile over Leon impaling a coat with diagonal stripes 1. The flat underside is decorated with fern scrolls. The arms are unidentified but probably indicate someone with a connection to the royal family of Spain2

1 Bendy of twelve in English heraldic terminology

2 A lustred plate with the same arms is in the Cloisters Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, no. 56.171.141.

CASE 4 DERUTA

Deruta is situated south of Perugia near the river Tiber, which provided good pottery clays as well as a route to important markets in Rome. Maiolica was made in the town from the thirteenth century and by the middle of the fifteenth Deruta developed into the principal regional production centre, increasingly specialized in maiolica and developing markets across Italy and abroad.

From the 1460s, metallic lustre was being made in Deruta. It may not have been the first place in Italy to master this technique of Islamic origin, but it was only there that the technique was applied on an industrial scale and by several workshops. Lustre added considerably to the price of maiolica and many of the best-painted pieces of Deruta maiolica are lustred. However, there are also some masterpieces of Deruta maiolica which are not lustred, such as the tiles of a pavement formerly in the church of San Francesco in Deruta, one of which is dated 1524, and many of which were painted by the greatest genius of Deruta maiolica painting, Nicola Francioli, called “Co”.

The most distinctive products of Deruta from the end of the fifteenth century until the 1560s were large deep plates, almost always leadglazed on the back to save on the cost of expensive tin, and often with holes pierced in the foot ring to allow the plate to be hung up on a wall for display. Among these, devotional subjects are common, as are armorials and belle donne, often with moralizing inscriptions.

Bibliography: Fiocco and Gherardi 1988/89, I, and 1994; Busti and Cocchi 1997, 1999, and 2004.

Tiles from the pavement once in the church of San Francesco, Deruta, some of which were painted by Nicola Francioli (“Co”), 1524. Museo Regionale della Ceramica, Deruta

16

Plate, A triumph of the Baglioni

Deruta, c1500–1520

MAK, KE 9553

Hauptinventar no. 37244r

Provenance: source unrecorded; retrospectively inventoried 1962

Tin-glazed on the front; yellowish glaze on the back. There are two holes in the foot ring, made before firing, from which the dish hangs correctly. Outside the foot ring is painted a curling scroll, possibly intended as a letter S Ø 40.5 cm

Condition: broken and repaired. Conservation work at Universität für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 2021/22

Bibliography: none

On an insecure-looking chariot suggesting the floats used at Renaissance street festivals and recalling the Trionfi of the poet Petrarch, Fortuna, her head or head dress winged, stands on a ball (her frequent emblem); she holds up, as if a kite, a shield with the arms of Baglioni; the chariot is pulled by a griffin.

The Baglioni were the ruling family in Perugia until they were driven out in 1540, when the city and its territory became part of the Papal State. They owned property in Deruta. Their arms are very frequent on Deruta maiolica1 and are sometimes held up by griffins, the heraldic emblem of the city of Perugia2

1 Busti and Cocchi 2004, nos. 8–12; E.P. Sani in Deruta 2018, pp. 68–72.

2 The arms of Baglioni are held up by griffins on large Deruta plates in Lyon (Fiocco et al. 2001, no. 73) and Baltimore (Prentice von Erdberg and Ross 1952, no. 18); also a plate with the arms of a Baglioni bishop supported by two griffins in the Lehman Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, probably for Troilo Baglioni, Bishop of Perugia 1501–1506 (Rasmussen 1989, no. 40; Busti and Cocchi 2004, no. 10).

17

Plate, A Turkish horseman

Deruta, c1520–1560

MAK, KE 7981

Hauptinventar no. 30336r

Provenance: bought at the Dorotheum, Vienna, Kunstabteilung sale 490, 12 July 1944, lot 244 (3,000 RM)

Previous provenance unrecorded

Tin-glazed on the front; on the back a brownish semi-translucent glaze Ø 40.2 cm

Condition: minor wear and chipping

Bibliography: Thornton and Wilson 2009, p. 444

A mounted warrior wearing a high turban rides through a hilly landscape. On the border panels of scale pattern alternate with panels of floral volutes.

The image of the Turkish warrior, a constant threat to the countries of Christendom, loomed large in the European imagination, especially in Italy, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among the most common designs on large Deruta dishes of this kind are single figures of horsemen with

CASE 21 CASTELLI

Castelli is a small town high up in the mountains of the Abruzzi region of Italy and a remarkably isolated place to have been a productive centre of artistic maiolica for centuries until the present day. The sixteenth century saw notable production, especially numerous attractive pharmacy jars, made in the workshops of the Pompei family [nos. 201, 202], but the golden age of Castelli istoriato began in the first half of the seventeenth century. The most prominent maiolica-making family over several generations was the Grue dynasty, notably Francesco (1618–1673), Carlo Antonio (1655–1723), and Francesco Antonio Saverio (1686–1746). Other notable ceramic families were the Gentili and the Cappelletti; these families were linked by intermarriage.

The town was part of the Kingdom of Naples and Castelli potters had clients especially among the aristocracy of Naples [nos. 182, 183]; but, they also had markets in Rome and internationally in the eighteenth century. Several Grand Tourists from England and elsewhere brought back examples to their native countries.

Castelli potters made extensive use of engravings and also of drawings and tracings pounced for direct transfer. This and the relative paucity of signed pieces (with the notable exceptions of Francesco Antonio Grue and Carmine Gentili), together with the close links between the principal families, makes attribution to individual artists often hazardous, especially in the case of landscapes. More Castelli maiolica is shown in case 33.

Bibliography: Corrieri 1998; Arbace 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2020; Hess 1999; Battistella and de Pompeis 2005.

121

Plate on high foot, An allegory of Europe

Castelli, c1670–1680

MAK, KE 5953

Hauptinventar no. 16559r

Bought 1907 from Puschgart for 160 crowns

Tin-glazed on upper and lower surfaces and beneath the hollow foot

Ø 28.5; H 5.5 cm

Condition: edge chips

Bibliography: Arbace 2000, fig. 124

The flat plate on a high foot (alzata in Italian) is painted with a lady and gentleman out walking in a landscape; a pageboy holds a parasol over the lady and another holds up her train. In a river dogs swim after a stag.

The figures are taken, in reverse1, from an engraving by Gilles Rousselet after Charles Lebrun, part of a series of the Four Continents2. A set of four maiolica plaques sold in 1932 from the collection of the Duca d’Aosta reproduces all four continents, captioned to leave no doubt about the subjects represented3. The same subject, perhaps by the same hand, is in a private collection; authoritative scholars of Castelli maiolica attribute it to Berardino Gentile the Elder (d.1683)4

The development of the Castelli school of istoriato painting was spearheaded by Francesco Grue (1618–1673). The relationship of style between the two maiolica painters suggests that Berardino, who was from a family of potters from Anversa in the Abruzzi, may have worked for a time in association with Francesco Grue5

1 The reversing may be due to the use of a pounced copy.

2 The identification of the source is due to Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute, London.

3 Catalogo delle collezioni private d’arte appartenute a S.A.R. Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia, duca d’Aosta, Rome (Giacomini), 15 February 1932, lot 306. Thanks are due to Franco G. Maria Battistella for this reference and for copies from the catalogue.

4 Arbace 2000, p. 150, fig. 124; Battistella and de Pompeis 2005, p. 78, fig. 120.

5 Arbace 2000, pp. 142–52; Battistella and de Pompeis 2005, p. 78.

Plate, The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, arms of Francesco Massucci, Bishop of Penne and Atri. Attributed to Francesco Grue, Castelli, 1648–1656

Europe. Engraving by Giles Rousselet after Charles Lebrun

125 Plaque

By Candeloro Cappelletti, Castelli, 1717

MAK, KE 6775

Hauptinventar no. 26070r

Bought from Neukloster, 1925

Tin-glazed on the front, unglazed on the back and sides

16 x 21.5 cm; T 1.7 cm

Condition: good

Bibliography: none

The plaque is painted with a landscape with towered buildings, Classical ruins, and tiny figures. On the unglazed back is the barely legible inscription Fecit An[n]o domini MDCCXVII Candelorus Cappeletti Terra Castelloru[m] (Candeloro Cappelletti made this at Castelli in the year of our Lord 1717)1

Candeloro Cappelletti (1689–1762)2 was the son of the sister of the eminent maiolica painter Carlo Antonio Grue. Only one other signed work by him is known, a Madonna and Child with Saint John, dated 17133; were it not for the signatures it would be difficult to identify the two works as by the same hand.

1 I thank Anne Biber for ultraviolet photographs enabling the word Candelorus to be read.

2 For his life dates, see Giacomini 2018, p. 58.

3 Battistella and de Pompeis 2005, p. 154. For Candeloro’s younger brother, Nicola, see Battistella and de Pompeis, pp. 159–61, with attributions to him of landscapes in the same general manner as, but seemingly not by the same hand as, the MAK plaque.

126

Plaque, Minerva leads Painting to the Liberal Arts

By Carmine Gentili, Castelli, c1700–1750

MAK, KE 7530

Hauptinventar no. 26070r

Transferred from Reichsstatthalterei, September 1939

Provenance: unrecorded

Covered on the front, but not the sides of back, with a white tin glaze

42.3 x 42.7 cm

Condition: broken and repaired. Conservation at Universität für angewandte Kunst, Vienna, 2021/22

Bibliography: none

The elaborate scene, an allegory of the merits of the art of Painting, shows the helmeted goddess Minerva (Pallas) leading Painting to join the Liberal Arts; a winged cupid flies down with a laurel wreath.

The scene closely follows (omitting a statue of Hercules in a niche upper left) an engraving by Aegidius Sadeler after Hans van Aachen1

The inscription top and bottom, damaged in parts, transcribes the Latin verses beneath the engraving, which are as follows:

Nobile si quid humus, si quid tenet Amphitrite, / Spectatu dignum si quid Olympus habet, / Aemula naturae dextra pictura potenti / Semper victuras transtulit in tabulas. / Sed rudis est omnis sine Pallade forma: / Si coniurarunt, pulchrius his quid erit? / Et comes ambabus si venerit incluta virtus, / Undique perfectum laurea cinget opus. (If the Earth holds something noble, if the Sea does, if the Heavens contain something worthy to be looked at, then skilled Painting, competing with mighty Nature, has transferred it to panels, which will live on forever. But all is rough without the form given by Pallas: if they are united, what will be

more beautiful than these? And if their famous companion Virtue will join them, then the perfect work will be crowned with laurel.)

The last word of the verses, OPUS, serves double duty on the maiolica panel, since it is followed by GENTILI (“the work of Gentili”).

Carmine Gentili (1678–1763) is the best-known and was the most prolific member of a family that became one of Castelli’s principal maiolica dynasties2

Minerva leads Painting to the Liberal Arts. Engraving by Aegidius Sadeler after Hans van Aachen

1 The source was identified by Paul Taylor of the Warburg Institute, London.

2 Battistella and de Pompeis 2005, pp. 128–41.

187 Bowl, FAUSTINA B[ELLA]

Urbino or Castel Durante, c1530–1540

MAK, KHM 36

Source: KHM (no. 2668)

Provenance: Imperial Schatzkammer, Vienna

Shallow bowl on low foot; tin-glazed front and back; the back undecorated

Ø 24.1 cm

Condition: good. At present in a metal hanging collar

Bibliography: Sacken 1870, p. 141; Vienna 1891, p. 102, case 4, no. 56; Planiscig and Kris 1935, p. 64, case 63, no. 7

“Faustina B[ella]”, expensively and exotically dressed, looks slightly downwards. For the classicizing name, see no. 22. She may possibly represent a courtesan.

188

Bowl, FRANCESCA B[ELLA]

Probably Duchy of Urbino, c1530–1560

MAK, KHM 8

Source: KHM

Provenance: Obizzi-Este collection (E7851)

Shallow bowl with everted rim; tin-glazed front and back; the back undecorated

Ø 19.4 cm

Condition: broken and repaired

Bibliography; Planiscig and Kris 1935, p. 64, case 63, no. 8

“Beautiful Francesca,” in a high head dress, looks out sidelong at the viewer.

189

Plate, ANGELICA BE

Duchy of Urbino, c1540–1560

MAK, KHM 35

Source: KHM

Provenance: Obizzi-Este collection (E7844)

Labels: Este collection label with red crown and No. 743, a descriptive label in German with what is presumably a valuation, 1000–1200K

Plate with deep well, sloping rim; tin-glazed front and back; the back undecorated

Ø 17.8 cm

Condition: some wear

Bibliography: none

In the central well, a woman in an elaborate embroidered or lace collar looks straight out at the viewer; on a scroll ANGELICA.BE[LLA]. The border is painted with interlace incorporating cornucopias, animal heads, and a winged cherub head.

Fluted bowl, Bella donna

Probably Duchy of Urbino (Castel Durante?), c1540–1570

MAK, KHM 167

Source: KHM

Provenance: Obizzi-Este collection (E7871)

Shallow bowl, made by pressing into a concave mould with sixteen gadroons; tin-glazed front and back; the back undecorated

Ø 18.7 cm

Condition: the foot chipped away (probably to facilitate framing)

Bibliography: none

On a yellow ground a woman looks out threequarters at the viewer; her hand, with notably long fingers, reaches across her breast1

1 A plate in Pesaro, Giardini 1996, tav. X, has a similar yellow-ground figure within a border of a type associated with Castel Durante.

191

Plate, A woman with a basket of fruit

Perhaps northern Lazio, c1550–1600

MAK, KE 3537

Hauptinventar no. 8637r

Bought 1888 from Heilbronner, Munich

Flattish plate with small foot. Covered front and back with a whitish, probably tin, glaze; the back undecorated

Ø 22.4 cm

Condition: edge chips; the glaze scuffed and crackled overall

Bibliography: none

In a landscape with buildings and distant mountains a woman carries a basket of fruit. The plate has not been related to any work of definite origin and the attribution is hypothetical. A somewhat similar plate is attributed by Julia Poole to Deruta1

1 Poole 1995, no. 276. A plate similar to the MAK one, with Saint Margaret, belongs to the Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse , 4138.

CASE 33 MAIOLICA FROM NEUKLOSTER

The Cistercian abbey of Neukloster at Wiener Neustadt was founded by King (later Emperor) Friedrich III in 1444. In the eighteenth century, with patronage from the Imperial family, a collection of natural specimens and artistic treasures was built up to create a Naturalienkabinett and a Kunst- und Wunderkammer. The greater part of the maiolica, perhaps all, was acquired between 1744 and 1783 by the monk Bernhard Sommer and is described in manuscript catalogues made in 1855, preserved in the Abbey.

Maiolica from this celebrated collection was lent to the Museum from the 1860s onwards, as discussed by Rainald Franz [p. 14]. The acquisition in 1925 by the MAK of collections accumulated in the Abbey included ninety-two examples of Italian maiolica and greatly strengthened the Museum’s holdings of sixteenth-century Urbino istoriato (notably by Francesco Durantino) and of seventeenth and eighteenth century Castelli.

Bibliography: Neukloster n.d.; Runkel 2019.

212 Pilgrim flask

By the “Painter of the Orpheus basin,” probably in the workshop of Guido di Merlino, Urbino, c1540–1550

MAK, KE 6698

Hauptinventar no. 25993r

Bought from Neukloster, 1925

Old Neukloster labels beneath the foot 2 and 121

Tin-glazed outside and in and beneath the hollow foot; two holes made in the foot before firing

H (with cap) 36.6 cm

Condition: generally good, but finial to cap missing

Bibliography: Führer 1929, p. 73

The pilgrim flask has two handles formed as twisted twigs; the cap is secured by a screw fitting on the interior, matching a thread on the upstand of the flask itself. This was a virtuoso pottery technique which was described by Cipriano Piccolpasso, who noted that some maiolica bottles were made “with a screw mouth, in the manner of silver flasks. I would not wish to pass lightly over this secret, because it is a thing too beautiful and ingenious and very difficult.”1

On each side, in a continuous landscape with high rocks, trees, and distant mountains is a river god holding an upturned pot from which water issues. Around them, naked men and women (or gods and goddesses?) bathe. No specific mythological scene seems to be represented. For the painter, see no. 55.

1 Piccolpasso 2007, Book 1, p. 51.

One case from the present installation of the Kunstkammer at Neukloster. The right-hand case contains Mexican and German pottery, as well as maiolica and other items.