21
Jar with a Lame Peasant
and Jar with a Woman
and Geese
Deruta or Montelupo
Early sixteenth century
Tin-glazed earthenware
[.i] H: 24.8 cm (g^3 A in.)
Diam (at lip): 12.9 cm (5 l/\e in.)
Diam (max.): 15.9 cm (6lA in.)
[.2] H: 24.8 cm (9^3 A in.)
Diam (at lip): 12.9 cm (5 V\e in.)
Diam (max.): 16.8 cm (6^5 /s in.)
84.DE.112.1-. 2
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS
On the back of each jar, B°.CONDITION
[.1] Small chips on the rim and base. t
[.2] Restorations on the base, bottoms, and rim,
and some painted areas (upper right corner of sky
and woman's apron and right sleeve).PROVENANCE
J. Pierpont Morgan Sr. (1837-1913), New York, by
inheritance to J. Pierpont Morgan Jr., (1867-1943),
New York, by 1915 passed to Duveen, 1916;
[Duveen Brothers, New York, sold to J. Widener,
1916];^1 Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, Pennsylva
nia (sold, Samuel T. Freeman and Co., Philadel
phia, June 20, 1944, lots 326-27, to R. Bak);
[French and Company, New York]; Dr. Robert Bak,
New York (sold, Sotheby's, London, December 7,1965, lot 54, to "Goldbaum" [according to sale
cat. notation]); Goldbaum; Benjamin Sonnenberg,
New York (sold, Sotheby's, New York, June 5,
1979, lot 356); [Rainer Zietz, Ltd., London, sold
o the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984].EXHIBITIONS
Purportedly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, 1913-16; [.2]: Italian Renaissance
Maiolica from the William A. Clark Collection,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 5 -
May 17, 1987.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Rackham 1915, 50,- Widener 1935, 67-68;
Bellini and Conti 1964, 100, pis. A, C; Rasmussen
1984 , 84, 86; GettyMusJ 13 (1985): 241, no. 163;
Hess 1988A, no. 24; Summary Catalogue 2001,
no. 360.THE CYLINDRICAL BODIES of these two containers are
painted in tones of orange, blue, green, and yellow with
single figures—on the first a lame peasant, possibly a
beggar, with a crutch holding a ceramic jug, and on the
second a woman with a distaff beside three fighting or
mating geese—within panels bordered by blue lines. The
upper right corner of each figurative panel is painted
with orange rays. Decorative geometric patterns run
around the shoulder and the base of each albarello.
These jars belong to a set of twenty-four known
albarelli, similar in shape and decoration and, except
for three,^2 inscribed B or B° on the reverse. The vessels
are clearly the work of different hands, since they vary
significantly in style.^3 Another feature distinguishing
these jars is their size, according to which the works can
be roughly divided into three sets. Each piece in the first
group, including as many as eighteen of the twenty-two
pieces, is smaller (approximately twenty to twenty-two
centimeters high) and can be characterized by predomi
nantly amorous or erotic subjects. The consistency of
subject matter, with the frequent occurrence of cupids
and other love imagery, suggests an intentional thematicprogram for this set of jars.
The subjects depicted include a cupid holding a
pierced heart and a blindfolded cupid on a cushion beside
his broken bow, otherwise identified as Eros and Anteros
(Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, inv. 26.400,
26.404);^4 a cupid holding a rope, referring to the bonds of
love (Cologne, Kunstgewerbemuseum, inv. E 1921);^5 a
cupid whose genitals are exposed, leading a dog on a
leash, implying either fidelity or exemplary action (Paris,
Musee du Louvre, inv. OA 2629);^6 a cupid with a violin
and a cupid bearing a tree trunk and rope (formerly in the
Peter Harris collection, London);^7 a cupid with a drum
and one with a horn and skull (formerly in the Pring-
sheim collection, Munich);^8 a female figure,-^9 Temper
ance, holding a wine cup and pitcher,^10 a chivalrous
youth holding a shield and banner and another holding
a pierced heart and standing beside a fire on an anvil,
a symbol of ardent love (Berlin, private collection);^11 a
woman lifting her skirt, exposing her genitals (Balti
more, Walters Art Gallery, inv. 48.2234);^12 a woman lift
ing her skirt to a winged phallus (Hamburg, Museum fur
Kunst und Gewerbe, inv. 1959.151);^13 a man holding a
small sphere facing a woman whose right foot rests on
a larger sphere, identified as Venus protecting man
(Naples, Museo Nazionale della Ceramica "Duca di
Martina/^7 inv. 95 5),-^14 a figure identified as Gluttony rid
ing a pig;^15 a putto holding a trident;^16 and the twisting
figure of Saint Sebastian pierced by nine arrows, in the
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Palazzo Barberini,
Rome (inv. 2798).^17OPPOSITE: 2i[.i]118