Large dish with segmental border of plant sprays and scale pattern; in the center, a profile bust of a woman in a winged headdress, c. 1515/1540

Not on View

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)

Dimensions

overall (diameter): 41.3 cm (16 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.323

Artists / Makers

Deruta 16th Century (ceramist)

Image Use

This image is unavailable for download.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .
Contact us about image usage .

Inscription

on scroll: CHI B / IENGV / I / DASVABARCHA / SEP /REE / PoRTo [He who steers his ship well is always in harbor]

Marks and Labels

Kann collection label 32; a circular pink label for the Manchester exhibition in 1857: "MUSEUM ART TREA[SURES] EXHIBITION LORD HASTINGS 112"; handwritten 19th century label: "Majolica-ware-glaze a 'lustre metallique'-fabric of the 16th century"

Provenance

Sir Jacob Astley, 16th Baron Hastings [1797-1859], Melton Constable, Norfolk, by 1857;[1] by descent to George Manners Astley, 20th Baron Hastings [1857-1904]; (his sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 20-21 March 1888, probably no. 100).[2] Maurice Kann [1839-1906], Paris; 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] There was no detailed catalogue for the 1857 exhibition in Manchester. The evidence of ownership is a circular pink exhibition label on the object, which reads: MUSEUM ART TREA[SURES] EXHIBITION LORD HASTINGS 112.

[2] Catalogue of Majolica...the property of the Right Hon. Lord Hastings (London, 1888), no. 100, is probably this piece. The name of the purchaser is given in the marked copy of the Hastings sale catalogue in the archives of Christie's as "Stettr."

Associated Names

Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Hastings, Bernard Edward D. Astley, 19th Baron
Hastings, Delaval Loftus Astley, 18th Baron
Hastings, George Manners Astley, 20th Baron
Hastings, Jacob Henry Delaval Astley, 17th Baron
Hastings, Sir Jacob Astley, 16th Baron
Kann, Maurice
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Exhibition History

1857: Art Treasures of the United Kingdom: Museum of Ornamental Art, Art Treasures Palace, Manchester, 1857, not in catalogue.

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. 15.

2001: Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, not in cat.

Technical Summary

Earthenware, covered on the front and edge with a white tin glaze and on the back with a pockmarked semitranslucent yellowish brown glaze overlying streaks of tin glaze. The painting is in blue, with golden brown luster. The dish has warped slightly in the kiln. In the foot ring are two holes, made before firing, placed so that the dish hangs slightly askew from them. There are kiln scars on the back and edge. The glaze on the front has crawled in patches near the edge. There are small areas of overpaint, notably near the woman's mouth.

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: 56, 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.

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: 152-154, color repro. 153.