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Lot Essay
The inscription translates as 'Orpheus who is killed by the women'. The letter S below, and what appears to be an S (it is indistinct) on the underside, has been identified by Fiocco and Gherardi as the signature of the painter Sforza di Marcantonio, who appears to have been working closely with Xanto Avelli da Rovigo at Urbino by 1535. Sforza is recorded as being in Pesaro on 17th May 1548, and dated Pesaro pieces suggest that he was working there until 1576 (some gaps which are unaccounted for). However, his whereabouts in the period between circa 1540 and 1548 is currently unknown.
The style of Sforza's early work is much tighter in appearance than his later work, which is executed more freely. The present lot appears to be an early work, although it is currently unclear as to whether it was executed at Urbino or Pesaro. The form of the flask, known at Urbino, suggests it could have been painted at Urbino in the early 1540s, but it is equally possible that it could have been made and painted at Pesaro in the middle of that decade. Although Sforza is recorded as being at Pesaro by 1548, it is possible that he might have arrived there earlier. John Mallet's suggestion that the inscription fatto in pessaro 1543 on a coppa in the Bettini Collection might be in Sforza's hand, poses the possibility that Sforza could have been at Pesaro by 1543 (for this, and a discussion of Sforza and Xanto, see John Mallet's forthcoming work 'Xanto: Pottery Painter, Poet, Man of the Renaissance' Wallace Collection Exhibition Catalogue, London, 2007, no. 55).
For another discussion of Sforza, see Carola Fiocco and Gabriella Gherardi, Faenza LXXXII, N. 4-6, 1996, pp. 145-51. A number of Pesaro pieces decorated by Sforza in his later style are illustrated by J. Lessmann, 'Italienische Majolika' Catalogue (Braunschweig, 1979), pp. 345-351, which include a number of dated pieces. It seems that Sforza, in common with Giulio da Urbino who also worked with Xanto, appears to have been less reliant than Xanto on print sources as a basis for decoration (for a discussion of Giulio da Urbino and Xanto see Dora Thornton, 'An Allegory of the Sack of Rome by Giulio da Urbino', Apollo Magazine, June 1999, p. 11-18).
Also see Lessmann, ibid., p. 356, no. 502 for a 'Duchy of Urbino' flask of the same form (with similar looped branch handles, but a different cover), and p. 185, no. 164 for an Urbino flask (with mask terminals below the handles) painted with the death of Orpheus, attributed to Francesco Durantino. An Urbino dish in the V&A Museum, London (Inv. 8951-1863), decorated with a similar scene of animals assembled around Orpheus including a dragon, as on the present lot, is illustrated by B. Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica (London, 1940), no. 837, and by C.M. Kauffmann, 'Orpheus: the Lion and the Unicorn', Apollo Magazine, September 1973, p. 196. A flask of similar form (but with mask terminals), formerly in Sir Otto Beit's Collection and painted with a scene of Apollo and Daphne, was sold in these Rooms on 8th July 2002, lot 202.
The style of Sforza's early work is much tighter in appearance than his later work, which is executed more freely. The present lot appears to be an early work, although it is currently unclear as to whether it was executed at Urbino or Pesaro. The form of the flask, known at Urbino, suggests it could have been painted at Urbino in the early 1540s, but it is equally possible that it could have been made and painted at Pesaro in the middle of that decade. Although Sforza is recorded as being at Pesaro by 1548, it is possible that he might have arrived there earlier. John Mallet's suggestion that the inscription fatto in pessaro 1543 on a coppa in the Bettini Collection might be in Sforza's hand, poses the possibility that Sforza could have been at Pesaro by 1543 (for this, and a discussion of Sforza and Xanto, see John Mallet's forthcoming work 'Xanto: Pottery Painter, Poet, Man of the Renaissance' Wallace Collection Exhibition Catalogue, London, 2007, no. 55).
For another discussion of Sforza, see Carola Fiocco and Gabriella Gherardi, Faenza LXXXII, N. 4-6, 1996, pp. 145-51. A number of Pesaro pieces decorated by Sforza in his later style are illustrated by J. Lessmann, 'Italienische Majolika' Catalogue (Braunschweig, 1979), pp. 345-351, which include a number of dated pieces. It seems that Sforza, in common with Giulio da Urbino who also worked with Xanto, appears to have been less reliant than Xanto on print sources as a basis for decoration (for a discussion of Giulio da Urbino and Xanto see Dora Thornton, 'An Allegory of the Sack of Rome by Giulio da Urbino', Apollo Magazine, June 1999, p. 11-18).
Also see Lessmann, ibid., p. 356, no. 502 for a 'Duchy of Urbino' flask of the same form (with similar looped branch handles, but a different cover), and p. 185, no. 164 for an Urbino flask (with mask terminals below the handles) painted with the death of Orpheus, attributed to Francesco Durantino. An Urbino dish in the V&A Museum, London (Inv. 8951-1863), decorated with a similar scene of animals assembled around Orpheus including a dragon, as on the present lot, is illustrated by B. Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica (London, 1940), no. 837, and by C.M. Kauffmann, 'Orpheus: the Lion and the Unicorn', Apollo Magazine, September 1973, p. 196. A flask of similar form (but with mask terminals), formerly in Sir Otto Beit's Collection and painted with a scene of Apollo and Daphne, was sold in these Rooms on 8th July 2002, lot 202.