25.

Museo Archeologico e della Ceramica di Montelupo
(da scavo adiacenze museo)

Ovoid jug; foot base disc; ribboned handle (a long handle is linked to the neck and to the body of the jug at the point of its maximum width); tribolate and flared collar; reconstructed from fragments and integrated in shape and decoration. Overall glazing, both internally and externally.

As is true of the dish described above, the decoration in a ‘parsley leaf’ motif on this jug is typical of the evolved ‘open form’ decoration, which was to become more popular in the early years of the 16th century.

This morphology was to become more common in local products, subjected to decorative variations only in the second half of the century (cf. Berti 1997, p. 348, no. 69-70). On this jug one can see the surrounding decoration, unflanked by other geometric bands, but delineated by vertical threading behind the handle. These threads join up with the manganese brown on the border of the foot and are coloured in copper green. On the front one can, obviously, see the blue outlining of the circular parsley leaf motif. Inside this circular area stands a tawny furred lion with his tongue out, very similar to other heraldic typologies depicting beasts. This figure is surrounded by a garland — floral corolla — painted in orange and blue.

On this jug one can also note the extent to which the artist had remained tied to the earlier tradition, exemplified in many products from Montelupese workshops, through his saturation of space and through his uncertain depiction of the ground and sky.

The mark — a sort of small “g” which can be seen at the bottom of the handle — and the site of the finding, enable scholars to attribute this piece to the late activities of Guido di Bartolomeo di Guido. This craftsman had supposedly moved to Montelupo from the neighbouring town, Castello di Capraia, at the end of the 15th century, and later sold a part of his home, situated near the “Podesteria” in Montelupo for the benefit of the local Court (cf. Berti 2001, p. 677 and p. 680). It was precisely on this strip of land, adjacent to the current seat of the Museum, that this specific jug, along with numerous other findings, were found (see cards 23, 24 and 27-30).

All these finding have the same workshop mark.

Bibliografia

Berti 1997, p. 327 tav. 255.