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Lot Essay
The impaled arms are for Niccolò II Vitelli, from Città di Castello, who married Gentilina della Staffa, from Perugia in 1527. It is interesting that an armorial lustred set dated 1527 should have been made at Gubbio at a similar time.1 As noted by Thornton and Wilson, this is not unique, and the practise of having armorial services from Faenza and Gubbio 'can hardly be coincidence'.2
Niccolò Vitelli (1496-1529) was a commander in the service of Pope Julius II and then Pope Leo X. He commanded the Papal Guard after the infamous Sack of Rome in 1527 and two years later, according to Litta,3 he killed his wife and was then killed by her lover, Nicola Bracciolini. One of his sons, Gian Luigi Vitelli (1520-1575) was a military commander and diplomat, and became the first Marchese di Cetona. Niccolò's other son, Giovanni, followed a military career and died in the war of Siena in 1554.
Elaborate armorial dishes usually have two putti supporting the arms, so this charger is unusual for having so many supporters. For a related armorial plate in the British Museum with two putti supporting an impaled coat of arms, see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. I, p. 133, no. 81. Another dish with two putti supporting the impaled Strozzi-Ridolfi arms in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, is illustrated by Gaetano Ballardini, La Maiolica Italiana, dalle origini alla fine del Cinquecento, Faenza, 1994 (second edition), pp. 144-145. Another, with two putti supporting the impaled arms of Guicciardini-Salviati is illustrated by Giovanni Conti, L'Arte della Maiolica in Italia, 1980 (second edition), no. 240.
1. A Gubbio lustred bowl from the set is in the British Museum, London; see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ibid., London, 2009, Vol. II. pp. 514-515, no. 314 (a Deruta dish with just the Vitelli arms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [no. 27.97.16] is cited on p. 442, note 8). There are five other known plates, and four are illustrated by Gaetano Ballardini, Corpus della Maiolica Italiana, I, Le Maioliche Datate Fino al 1530, Rome, 1933, nos. 190-193, and also see Joseph Chompret, Repertoire de la Majolique Italienne, Paris, 1949, Vol. II, p. 91, figs. 721-723.
2. Thornton and Wilson, ibid., Vol. II, p. 515.
3. Pompeo Litta et al., Celebri Famiglie Italiane, Milan and Turin, 1819-1923, s.v. Vitelli, tav. II, cited by D. Thornton and T. Wilson, ibid., p. 514 and p. 515, note 10.
Niccolò Vitelli (1496-1529) was a commander in the service of Pope Julius II and then Pope Leo X. He commanded the Papal Guard after the infamous Sack of Rome in 1527 and two years later, according to Litta,
Elaborate armorial dishes usually have two putti supporting the arms, so this charger is unusual for having so many supporters. For a related armorial plate in the British Museum with two putti supporting an impaled coat of arms, see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, A Catalogue of the British Museum Collection, London, 2009, Vol. I, p. 133, no. 81. Another dish with two putti supporting the impaled Strozzi-Ridolfi arms in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, is illustrated by Gaetano Ballardini, La Maiolica Italiana, dalle origini alla fine del Cinquecento, Faenza, 1994 (second edition), pp. 144-145. Another, with two putti supporting the impaled arms of Guicciardini-Salviati is illustrated by Giovanni Conti, L'Arte della Maiolica in Italia, 1980 (second edition), no. 240.
1. A Gubbio lustred bowl from the set is in the British Museum, London; see Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, ibid., London, 2009, Vol. II. pp. 514-515, no. 314 (a Deruta dish with just the Vitelli arms in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [no. 27.97.16] is cited on p. 442, note 8). There are five other known plates, and four are illustrated by Gaetano Ballardini, Corpus della Maiolica Italiana, I, Le Maioliche Datate Fino al 1530, Rome, 1933, nos. 190-193, and also see Joseph Chompret, Repertoire de la Majolique Italienne, Paris, 1949, Vol. II, p. 91, figs. 721-723.
2. Thornton and Wilson, ibid., Vol. II, p. 515.
3. Pompeo Litta et al., Celebri Famiglie Italiane, Milan and Turin, 1819-1923, s.v. Vitelli, tav. II, cited by D. Thornton and T. Wilson, ibid., p. 514 and p. 515, note 10.