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Lot Essay
The influence of sophisticated Hispano-Moresque wares imported from Spain can be seen in the decoration of this albarello. It is part of a group of 'Italo-Moresque albarelli decorated mainly in blue with debased pseudo-Kufic script, knots and cross-hatched shapes.'1 The altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints Peter Damian, Thomas, Clare and Ursula by Giovanni di Paolo in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena, shows Saint Clare holding an albarello of this type, supporting a mid-15th century date for this group of albarelli as the altarpiece was painted after 1453.2 As noted by Poole, this has also caused speculation that the albarelli of this type may have been made in Siena.
For a similarly decorated albarello in Berlin, see Tjark Hausmann, Majolika. Spanische und Italienische Keramik vom 14. Bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, Kataloge des Kunstgewerbemuseums Berlin VI, Berlin, 1972, pp. 99-101, no. 76, and for a very similar albarello with a handle, see Julia E. Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 108-110, no. 164. For an albarello with a similarly decorated central part, see Galeazzo Cora, Storia della maiolica di Firenze e del contado, Secoli XIV e XV, Florence, 1973, pl. 131, fig. 131a, where albarelli of this type (including the present lot) are grouped by Cora into Group VIIA. For an Hispano-Moresque albarello of the same form with related blue and lustred decoration with hatched panels (without spirals), see Anthony Ray, Spanish Pottery 1248-1898, Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, London, 2000, p. 66, no. 134 and pl. 11, and p. 63, no. 127 for an albarello of the same form decorated with spirals within linear panels; both are attributed to Valencia (probably Manises), circa 1400-1450.
1. Julia E. Poole, ibid., p. 108.
2. The altarpiece is illustrated by Poole, ibid., p. 109.
For a similarly decorated albarello in Berlin, see Tjark Hausmann, Majolika. Spanische und Italienische Keramik vom 14. Bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, Kataloge des Kunstgewerbemuseums Berlin VI, Berlin, 1972, pp. 99-101, no. 76, and for a very similar albarello with a handle, see Julia E. Poole, Italian maiolica and incised slipware in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 108-110, no. 164. For an albarello with a similarly decorated central part, see Galeazzo Cora, Storia della maiolica di Firenze e del contado, Secoli XIV e XV, Florence, 1973, pl. 131, fig. 131a, where albarelli of this type (including the present lot) are grouped by Cora into Group VIIA. For an Hispano-Moresque albarello of the same form with related blue and lustred decoration with hatched panels (without spirals), see Anthony Ray, Spanish Pottery 1248-1898, Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogue, London, 2000, p. 66, no. 134 and pl. 11, and p. 63, no. 127 for an albarello of the same form decorated with spirals within linear panels; both are attributed to Valencia (probably Manises), circa 1400-1450.
1. Julia E. Poole, ibid., p. 108.
2. The altarpiece is illustrated by Poole, ibid., p. 109.