.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The inscription on the reverse translates as 'Aesacus becomes a cormorant, and his nymph is dead. In the Eleventh Book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Francesco Xanto Avelli of Rovigo, in Urbino'. Xanto records that the depicted story is about Aesacus, who had fallen in love with a water nymph, Hesperie. As Aesacus chased her through woods Hesperie was bitten by a snake and died. Feeling responsible, Aesacus threw himself from a cliff, but as he was falling he was changed into a bird by Thetis, a river goddess. Aesacus tried to dive deep into the water but he became a cormorant, and was unable to die.
Xanto used four prints to assemble this composition. The figure of Hesperie is taken from one of the standing nude muses in Gian Giacomo Caraglio's engraving 'The Muses and the Pierides'; Xanto rotated the figure so that she is lying down. Cupid is taken from Marcantonio Raimondi's 'Parnassus', and the figure of Aesacus falling is taken from Raimondi's engraving 'Naked Man pursuing a Naiad'. The figure on the left is taken from (Master I.B.) Georg Pencz's 1528 engraving 'Mercurius'. It is not clear if Xanto intended the figure on the left of this plate to still represent Mercury or not. His substitution of Mercury (or a warrior) for Thetis, the correct agent responsible for Aesacus's transformation, appears to be deliberate, and perhaps the choice was made purely for visual reasons.1 In 1533 Xanto constructed the story of Aesacus and Hesperie using different print sources on a plate now in the Louvre (Inv. MR 2218. Acq. Durand, 1825. Cat. Darcel G297). Xanto also chose not to represent Thetis on the Louvre plate; instead, he inexplicably depicted the warrior figure running out of the scene on the right-hand side.2
The present plate is part of the important armorial service made for a member of the Pucci family, which was possibly the largest single commission that Xanto carried out. It is still not clear which member of the family was the patron or recipient of the service. In 1916 it was suggested that Piero Maria Pucci (1467-1547) may have been the original owner. More recently Julia Poole identified Roberto Pucci (1463-1547) as a possible candidate,4 and Cioci has suggested Cardinal Antonio Pucci (1483-1544).5
For a discussion of the service with an illustrated assembly of the known surviving pieces, see J. Triolo, 'Francesco Xanto Avelli's Pucci Service (1532-1533); a catalogue (Part One)', Faenza, N. 1-3, 1988, pp. 37-44, and J. Triolo, 'Francesco Xanto Avelli's Pucci Service (1532-1533); a catalogue (Part Two)', Faenza, N. 4-6, 1988, pp. 228-284, pls. XXVII-LXIX. For another visual assembly of the service, see Jörg Rasmussen, Italian Majolica in the Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, pp. 252-257.
1. See T. Wilson, 'Xanto and Ariosto', The Burlington Magazine, May 1990, p. 327, where Xanto's disregard for accuracy of the text depicted is discussed. Xanto was enormously well-read, so presumably inaccuracies in depiction of texts were made for reasons of aesthetic choice.
2. See Jeanne Giacomotti, Catalogue des majoliques des musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 270-271, no. 864.
3. Bernard Rackham and Albert Van de Put, Catalogue of the Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1916, p. 105. They suggested Piero Maria Pucci had been appointed Papal gonfaloniere to Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21). This was questioned by Timothy Wilson in 1987 and no substantiation was found for these claims.
4. Julia Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 340, where she gives a brief synopsis of his life.
5. Francesco Cioci, 'Xanto e il Duca di Urbino. Il servizio Pucci e il suo titolare. Un omaggio all'Impero', Faenza, N. 4-6, 1997, pp. 205-30, and 'Il servizio Pucci di Xanto: i soggetti dall'Eneide e il contributo di Maestro Giorgio', in Bojani, 2002, pp. 69-84. This view is rejected by some on the basis that there is no armorial precedent for a cardinal using the ombrellino instead of the red cardinal's hat.
Xanto used four prints to assemble this composition. The figure of Hesperie is taken from one of the standing nude muses in Gian Giacomo Caraglio's engraving 'The Muses and the Pierides'; Xanto rotated the figure so that she is lying down. Cupid is taken from Marcantonio Raimondi's 'Parnassus', and the figure of Aesacus falling is taken from Raimondi's engraving 'Naked Man pursuing a Naiad'. The figure on the left is taken from (Master I.B.) Georg Pencz's 1528 engraving 'Mercurius'. It is not clear if Xanto intended the figure on the left of this plate to still represent Mercury or not. His substitution of Mercury (or a warrior) for Thetis, the correct agent responsible for Aesacus's transformation, appears to be deliberate, and perhaps the choice was made purely for visual reasons.
The present plate is part of the important armorial service made for a member of the Pucci family, which was possibly the largest single commission that Xanto carried out. It is still not clear which member of the family was the patron or recipient of the service. In 1916 it was suggested that Piero Maria Pucci (1467-1547) may have been the original owner. More recently Julia Poole identified Roberto Pucci (1463-1547) as a possible candidate,
For a discussion of the service with an illustrated assembly of the known surviving pieces, see J. Triolo, 'Francesco Xanto Avelli's Pucci Service (1532-1533); a catalogue (Part One)', Faenza, N. 1-3, 1988, pp. 37-44, and J. Triolo, 'Francesco Xanto Avelli's Pucci Service (1532-1533); a catalogue (Part Two)', Faenza, N. 4-6, 1988, pp. 228-284, pls. XXVII-LXIX. For another visual assembly of the service, see Jörg Rasmussen, Italian Majolica in the Robert Lehman Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1989, pp. 252-257.
1. See T. Wilson, 'Xanto and Ariosto', The Burlington Magazine, May 1990, p. 327, where Xanto's disregard for accuracy of the text depicted is discussed. Xanto was enormously well-read, so presumably inaccuracies in depiction of texts were made for reasons of aesthetic choice.
2. See Jeanne Giacomotti, Catalogue des majoliques des musées nationaux, Paris, 1974, pp. 270-271, no. 864.
3. Bernard Rackham and Albert Van de Put, Catalogue of the Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the possession of Mr. Otto Beit, London, 1916, p. 105. They suggested Piero Maria Pucci had been appointed Papal gonfaloniere to Pope Leo X (r. 1513-21). This was questioned by Timothy Wilson in 1987 and no substantiation was found for these claims.
4. Julia Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 340, where she gives a brief synopsis of his life.
5. Francesco Cioci, 'Xanto e il Duca di Urbino. Il servizio Pucci e il suo titolare. Un omaggio all'Impero', Faenza, N. 4-6, 1997, pp. 205-30, and 'Il servizio Pucci di Xanto: i soggetti dall'Eneide e il contributo di Maestro Giorgio', in Bojani, 2002, pp. 69-84. This view is rejected by some on the basis that there is no armorial precedent for a cardinal using the ombrellino instead of the red cardinal's hat.