AN ITALIAN MAIOLICA ISTORIATO WINE COOLER

CIRCA 1550, WORKSHOP OF ORAZIO FONTANA

Details

AN ITALIAN MAIOLICA ISTORIATO WINE COOLER
Circa 1550, Workshop of Orazio Fontana
The interior of the tri-lobed footed basin painted in rich colours with the 'Battle of the Lapiths and Centaurs', the exterior applied with entwined vines on the blue ground and with screaming masks centering scrolls and the juncture of each lobe
15in. (38.1cm.) wide

Provenance

with Blumka Gallery, New York, October 1988

Sale room notice

Additional provenance: William Randolph Hearst Collection Additional literature: Warren E. Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, New York, 1979, vol. I, p. 353, plate 117

Lot Essay

The turbulent scene shown on the present cistern is based on a engraving of 1542 by Enea Vico after the painting of the same subject by the Italian master Rosso Fiorentino (1494-1540) [Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 30, fig. 30 (297)]. It depicts the mythological story as recounted in Ovid (Metamorphoses 12:210-535) of the wedding celebration of Pirithous, king of the Lapiths in Thessaly to his bride Hippodamia. Among the invited guests were Centaurs who overindulged and became obstreperous. Chief among these was Eurytus who attemped to abscond with the bride. A bloody battle ensued between the two groups which ended with victory for the Lapiths due in part to support by the hero Theseus, a friend of the groom. Eurytus can be seen at the left attempting to carry off Hippodamia. Theseus is at the right drawing his sword.

Cf. G. Liverani, Five Centuries of Italian Maiolica, p. 49, pl. XXX