58.

Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlino
(acquisto 1931)

Bowl shaped dish with medium size border on a large disc foot base.

Completely finished on the reverse.

Integral form. Overall glazing extending to the back.

This bowl shaped dish is an example which shows how some journeymen artists had moved to and worked in Montelupo in the 1630s. Though their production was limited, it derived from the obvious formal canons from their original hometown, even though they were made in the Valdarno kilns.

The technical and decorative philology which characterises the work produced by these artists from Romagna, and especially the painter who signed his work with the “pitchfork” mark, to which we have previously referred.

The Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin safeguards this maiolica which, without doubt, can be included in the Faenza genre called “vaghezze e gentilezze” (lightness and delicacy) (Ravanelli Guidotti 1998, pp. 306-13). This genre was characterised by the use of a coloured enamel in various tones of blue, from light blue to the greyish hue of the so called “berettino”. The particular chromatism of this type of production skilfully exploits the contrasting dominant sky blue of the background with the lighter, white tin of the decorations, often highlighted by touches of intense blue, as can be seen in this dish.

The complex plant composition on the border and in the centre, surrounds the coat-of-arms, in which the Medici ensign is associated to that of an unknown family (three shoots on a stalk?). These same motifs, though drawn differently, are found on separate sections of the dish. On the border, in fact, apart from the particular highlighting due to the dotting of the border (refer to Faenza products dating between 1528 to 1544, cf. Ravanelli Guidotti 1998, p. 301, fig. 68a, 68c) one can see a branch with leaves and opposing spiral motifs which spread over the surface. In the centre, instead, the composition represents a sort of tree, which stems from the bottom part of the ensign, as if it were shooting out from the earth. This encloses the coat-of-arms with its foliage.

The refined chromatic contrast between light blue and white recalls the visual effect of “niello” decoration (note the criss-crossed leaves), almost as if the highlighted decorations in white-tin had been made with precious silver threads, inserted into the glazed surface of the dish. The perfect mastering of the spatial development of the whole composition and its admirable symmetry, gives the impression that the composition was obtained by the dusting technique used by goldsmiths (cf. previous card no. 50).

The encircled workshop mark painted on the back, as already noted, belongs to a vase maker from Faenza who worked in Montelupo, and could be the same Girolamo Mengari, who has frequently been mentioned here. The chronology of the document (slightly earlier than the Hausmann example) is relative to both the Faenza genre, (recorded in written documents from 1528; Ravanelli Guidotti 1998, p. 306), and to the presence of journeymenartists in Montelupo (after 1523), and, above all, to the elaborate stylisation of the coat-of-arms. The piece can, therefore, be dated around 1540.
 

Bibliografia

Hausmann 1972, pp. 166-67 n. 123; Berti 1998, p. 341 tavv. 228-229.