CIRCA 1570

Details

An Urbino istoriato dish
Circa 1570
The centre with Apollo holding the pale, limp Hyacinthus, a figure to the left with two dogs, a river god to the right with water flowing from an up-turned vase, surrounded by trees before distant fortifications and mountains, within a yellow band rim, the reverse inscribed in manganese ·jacinto Amalato disano du ta mente da Febo· within a yellow band at the footrim and double concentric yellow band border (rim chip at 6 o'clock, re-stuck chip to underside of rim at 1 o'clock, very small flake to glaze of rim at 6 o'clock)
11¼ in. (28.5 cm.) diam.

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Lot Essay

Hyacinthus, a young Spartan Prince, was the beloved of Apollo (Febo), and was being shown how to throw the discus by the god, but the jealous west wind, Zephyrus, directed the discus at Hyacinthus's head, killing him. A hyacinth then sprouted from where his blood fell on the ground (Ovid Metamorphoses 10, 162-219).

This dish appears to be from the same workshop as several pieces in the Anton Ulrich Museum (see J. Lessmann, 'Italienische Majolika' Katalog der Sammlung [Brunswick, 1979], nos. 401 and 405) where the handling of the foliage and the painting of the heads is strikingly similar.

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