Large dish with scale border; in the center, an imperial Roman figure and the letter N crowned, c. 1510/1540

West Building, Ground Floor — Gallery G16

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 42.6 cm (16 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.320

Artists / Makers

Deruta 16th Century (ceramist)

Image Use

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Inscription

in front of the figure's face: crowned N

Marks and Labels

Kann collection labels 8, 177

Provenance

Maurice Kann [1839-1906], Paris;[1] purchased 1908 with the entire Kann collection by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased February 1910 by Peter A. B. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from the Estate of Peter A. B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942.

[1] This dish may well be the one "with the Emperor Nero, initial and crown, surrounded by scale ornaments, in metallic luster, 16 3/4 in. diameter" sold from the collection of Auguste Ricard de Montferrand of Saint Petersburg at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 14-16 November 1859, no. 237.

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Kann, Maurice
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1982: Sixteenth-Century Italian Maiolica; Selections from the Arthur M. Sackler Collection and the National Gallery of Art's Widener Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1982-1983, no. 16.

Technical Summary

Earthenware, covered on the front and partially on the edge with a white tin glaze, on the back with a pockmarked semitranslucent creamy brown glaze overlying streaks of tin glaze. The painting is in blue, with luster varying from yellowish gold to patchy pink. In the foot ring are two holes, made before firing, placed so that the dish hangs correctly from them. There are several kiln scars on the back, beneath the rim and the curving sides of the well. Slight cracks run from the edge at six o'clock and ten o'clock. There is wear and chipping on the outer and inner edges of the rim, with extensive overpaint on the outer edge. The glaze on the front is somewhat scratched.

Bibliography

1935: Inventory of the Objects d'Art at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, The Estate of the Late P.A.B. Widener. Philadelphia, 1935: 55, as Deruta, c. 1520.

1942: Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 12, as Deruta, about 1520.

1983: Wilson, Carolyn C. Renaissance Small Bronze Sculpture and Associated Decorative Arts at the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1983: 124-125, no. 4, repro., as Deruta, first third of sixteenth century.

1993: Distelberger, Rudolf, Alison Luchs, Philippe Verdier, and Timonthy H. Wilson. Western Decorative Arts, Part I: Medieval, Renaissance, and Historicizing Styles including Metalwork, Enamels, and Ceramics. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1993: 147-149, repro. 148.