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Lot Essay
These two monumental ewers are from the important armorial service decorated with landscapes or paesi scenes made for a member of the Salviati family in Florence. The recent discovery that the service is recorded in a 16th century inventory of the Salviati palazzo, published by Michael Brody in 2000, has finally confirmed that the service was originally made for the 'Roman' branch of the Salviati family living in Florence.1 Because of heraldic simularities, it was traditionally thought that the service had been made for the Salviati family2 or the Avogadro family or Avvocati family of Genoa, Brescia, or Venice.3
It is not completely clear if the service was made for Jacopo di Alamanno Salviati, or for his father, Alamanno, who died aged 61 in 1571, although of the two it seems more probable that it was Jacopo.4 Brody suggests that the service could have been created in conjunction with Jacopo's marriage to his cousin, Isabella Salviati (of the 'Florentine' branch of the family), in 1559, which would be entirely possible on stylistic grounds for the decoration of the service.
The inventory was taken in 1583, and it appears to be a comprehensive record of the chattels in the Salviati palazzo on the via del Corso.5 Items listed range from the maiolica, pictures, sculptures and furniture to mattresses, glass and even equipment for the horses. The suggested catalyst for the inventory was probably the completion of an elaborate restoration and enlargement project undertaken between 1575 and 1582.6 The service, described as 'Terra d'Vrbino tt.a dipinta à paesi con l'armi de Salv.ti' is listed in the guardaroba of the palazzo, and a total of 178 pieces are recorded. The present ewers are listed as boccaloni grandi, and in 1583 there were four of these recorded. The whereabouts of the other two are unknown, and (other than the family inventories) it appears that they have never been published. Brody suggests that it is possible they could once have been in the Schlossmuseum, Berlin, and that they could have been destroyed during the Second World War.7
A brief description of the paesi service appears in the 1609 post-mortem inventory of Jacopo di Alamanno Salviati's son, Lorenzo, Marquis of Giuliano (1568-1609); 'un fornimento da credenza di piatti di terra d'Urbino tutti storiati, in tutto pezzi centosettantaquattro', where it is recorded as being stored next to the Marquis's silver in the seventh armadio in the second room of the guardaroba.8 It documents a difference in number of only four pieces from the 1583 inventory, but as it does not specify which type of pieces were missing, presumably they were considered of a more minor type. The 1609 inventory records that Lorenzo's first-born son, Anton Maria, had died in childhood, so Lorzenzo's estates passed to Jacopo di Lorenzo, his second son. The descriptions in subsequent family inventories lack the accuracy to make positive identification of the paesi service beyond this point possible. The service could have been sold,9 broken up within the family or it could have continued down the line until Anton Maria di Francesco Maria Salviati's death in 1704. His only heir, Zeffirina, married into the Colonna family in Rome. She inherited some of his movable property (particularly pictures), but the bulk of the estate, including the Ducal title and palazzo, passed to Antonino di Giovan Vincenzo (1658-1723) of the 'Florentine' branch of the family, whose principal residence is now known as the Palazzo Borghese-Salviati.
It is not known for certain who painted the service,10 or why the service is principally painted with landscapes.11 It is also not known what print sources were used for the landscapes, but presumably a source was used as the landscapes are distinctly northern in feel and the buildings with their high-pitched roofs are clearly not Italian.
1. Brody, ibid., 2000, pp. 31-46. The distinction between the 'Roman' and 'Florentine' branches of the family, both in Florence, is discussed in note 2, pp. 31 and 34.
2. Giuliani, 1855-64, III, cited by Julia Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 370, note 1.
3. Coronelli, 1706, p. 6: Crollalanza, 1886-90, I, pp. 73-74, cited by Poole, ibid., p. 370, note 2.
4. Brody, ibid., p. 31, where he notes that Jacopo died aged 49 in 1586, and the checks, 'marks and annotations recording the disappearance or movement of goods appear throughout the 1583 inventory' suggest 'the document was consulted after its creation and probably upon Jacopo's death, thus eliminating the need for a post-mortem inventory'. Although it is possible that Alamanno could have received or commissioned a service with only the Salviati arms, and not those of his wife, Constanza Serristori, it is perhaps less probable. His son married a Salviati, which as Brody notes neither supports nor contradicts the notion that the service was commissioned around the time of their marriage.
5. This is now the Palazzo Portinari-Salviati.
6. Brody, ibid., p. 31, note 2.
7. Brody, ibid., p. 35.
8. Brody, ibid., p. 42.
9. Brody, ibid., p. 43, notes that the first recorded sale of movable property since the 1583 inventory took place in the time of Antonino (d. 1723).
10. The unknown painter is classified by John Mallet in his sixth category of painters working in Guido Durantino's workshop. See J.V.G. Mallet, 'In Botega di Maestro Guido Durantino in Urbino', The Burlington Magazine, May 1987, p. 294, where he notes this painter is 'particularly admirable as a landscape artist, his fine sense of colour and the soft touch of his brush finding free expression, if I am not mistaken, on the many pieces of the great landscape service that bears the arms of Salviati or Avogadro'. Poole, ibid., p. 370, argues that the painter of the Fitzwilliam Museum dish is different.
11. There are exceptions to this, notably the charger in the V&A Museum, London, illustrated by Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1940, Vol. II, pl. 132, no. 833, and the plate in the Gillet Collection, see C. Fiocco, et al., Majoliques Italiennes du Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, Dijon, 2001, pp. 258-259, no. 172.
It is not completely clear if the service was made for Jacopo di Alamanno Salviati, or for his father, Alamanno, who died aged 61 in 1571, although of the two it seems more probable that it was Jacopo.
The inventory was taken in 1583, and it appears to be a comprehensive record of the chattels in the Salviati palazzo on the via del Corso.
A brief description of the paesi service appears in the 1609 post-mortem inventory of Jacopo di Alamanno Salviati's son, Lorenzo, Marquis of Giuliano (1568-1609); 'un fornimento da credenza di piatti di terra d'Urbino tutti storiati, in tutto pezzi centosettantaquattro', where it is recorded as being stored next to the Marquis's silver in the seventh armadio in the second room of the guardaroba.
It is not known for certain who painted the service,
1. Brody, ibid., 2000, pp. 31-46. The distinction between the 'Roman' and 'Florentine' branches of the family, both in Florence, is discussed in note 2, pp. 31 and 34.
2. Giuliani, 1855-64, III, cited by Julia Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1995, p. 370, note 1.
3. Coronelli, 1706, p. 6: Crollalanza, 1886-90, I, pp. 73-74, cited by Poole, ibid., p. 370, note 2.
4. Brody, ibid., p. 31, where he notes that Jacopo died aged 49 in 1586, and the checks, 'marks and annotations recording the disappearance or movement of goods appear throughout the 1583 inventory' suggest 'the document was consulted after its creation and probably upon Jacopo's death, thus eliminating the need for a post-mortem inventory'. Although it is possible that Alamanno could have received or commissioned a service with only the Salviati arms, and not those of his wife, Constanza Serristori, it is perhaps less probable. His son married a Salviati, which as Brody notes neither supports nor contradicts the notion that the service was commissioned around the time of their marriage.
5. This is now the Palazzo Portinari-Salviati.
6. Brody, ibid., p. 31, note 2.
7. Brody, ibid., p. 35.
8. Brody, ibid., p. 42.
9. Brody, ibid., p. 43, notes that the first recorded sale of movable property since the 1583 inventory took place in the time of Antonino (d. 1723).
10. The unknown painter is classified by John Mallet in his sixth category of painters working in Guido Durantino's workshop. See J.V.G. Mallet, 'In Botega di Maestro Guido Durantino in Urbino', The Burlington Magazine, May 1987, p. 294, where he notes this painter is 'particularly admirable as a landscape artist, his fine sense of colour and the soft touch of his brush finding free expression, if I am not mistaken, on the many pieces of the great landscape service that bears the arms of Salviati or Avogadro'. Poole, ibid., p. 370, argues that the painter of the Fitzwilliam Museum dish is different.
11. There are exceptions to this, notably the charger in the V&A Museum, London, illustrated by Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1940, Vol. II, pl. 132, no. 833, and the plate in the Gillet Collection, see C. Fiocco, et al., Majoliques Italiennes du Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon, Dijon, 2001, pp. 258-259, no. 172.