Italian Ceramics: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection

32

Jug with a Musical

Theme

Faenza

1536

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 32.5 cm (i2^13 /i6 in.)

Diam (at lip): 13.3 cm (5 lA in.)

W (max.): 26 cm (10V4 in.)

84.DE.115

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS
On each of the four tablets under the medallions,
IS36; in one medallion, Elixeo beside a bearded
and turbaned old man.

CONDITION

Restorations around the rim and neck on either

side,- glaze faults (crawling), particularly in

areas of yellow glaze; chips on the handle and

around the rim.

PROVENANCE

Alessandro Castellani, Rome (sold, Hotel Drouot,

Paris, May 27-29, 1878, lot 230); J. Pierpont

Morgan Sr. (1837-1913), New York, passed to

Duveen, 1916; [Duveen Brothers, New York, sold

to C. W. Hamilton, 1919];^1 Carl W. Hamilton,

New York, at least until 1936; George R. Hann,

Sewickley Heights, Pennsylvania (sold, Christie's,

on the Hann premises, Treetops, Sewickley

Heights, May 19, 1980, lot 91, to R. Zietz); [Rainer

Zietz, Ltd., London, sold to the J. Paul Getty

Museum, 1984].

EXHIBITIONS

Loan Exhibition of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collec­

tion, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,

1914-16; Catalogue of a Group of Old Masters,

Renaissance Italian Furniture, Majolika, Vases,

and Other Objects from the Collection of Carl W.

Hamilton, New York, California Palace of the Le­

gion of Honor, San Francisco, September 1, 1927-

January 6, 1928.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Metropolitan 1914, 56-57 and illus.; Legion of

Honor 1927, 15, no. n; GettyMusJ 13 (1985): 242,

no. 169; Hess 1988A, no. 28; Ravanelli Guidotti

1998, 289-90, fig. 20; Summary Catalogue 2001,

(^) no. 370.
THIS JUG HAS AN OVOID BODY WITH PINCHED SPOUT
and broad, ribbed handle. Three large medallions orna­
ment the body. They depict a bearded and turbaned old
man reading a book; a man, perhaps Orpheus, playing a
lira da braccio (fig. 32A); and a musician in contempo­
rary dress playing a lute (fig. 32B).^2 Laurel garlands en­
circle the medallions and run down the handle. The
ocher, yellow, green, black, and opaque white decoration
is surrounded by a dark blue reserve set against a light
blue berettino ground, which covers the rest of the body
and consists of cherubs, dolphins, books, and foliate
scrolls. Small labels inscribed with the date 1536 appear
under each medallion and under the handle, and a wavy
ribbon pattern embellishes the areas around the rim and
base. The interior is tin glazed.
The old man labeled Elixeo (fig. 32D) represents the
Old Testament prophet Elisha (or Eliseus in the New
Testament [Luke 4:27]). Indeed, an incident from the
prophet's life may establish a thematic connection
among the three medallion figures on the jug. Before
foretelling the success of their expedition against Moab
to the allied kings of Israel, Jehoshaphat and Edom,
Elisha asked for a minstrel to perform music; the music
induced an ecstatic state in which Elisha made his
prophecy (2 Kings 3:1 sff.). Such musical associations
may connect the popular, mythological, and biblical
figures in the medallions, suggesting that the patron for
whom the jug was executed was a lover of music or per­
haps a musician himself.
A similar image of Elisha appears on a crespina pub­
lished in 1999 (fig. 32E). Both the Getty jug and this
crespina drew upon the same, as yet unidentified, print
source for this portion of their decoration.^3
This jug is rare because of its large size, unusual
form, and exceptionally beautiful painting. There are
very few known vessels from the large group of Faentine
berettino wares with comparably elaborate grotesque
decoration. Orpheus playing the lira da braccio seems to
have been a popular subject for berettino ceramics, given
that the figure appears on a pair of jars and a plate in Lon­
don, on a plate in Paris, and, in monochrome berettino,
on a crespina in Faenza.^4 However, the Getty Orpheus
seems to have been inspired more by a Benedetto Mon-
tagna print^5 than by the Moderno plaquette convinc­
ingly proposed by Carmen Ravanelli Guidotti as the
source for the other four examples.^6
In a private Florentine collection is a Faentine jug of
similar height (thirty-eight centimeters) and form but
decorated with delicate fruit, flowers, and leaves; it was
executed in the workshop of Virgiliotto Calamelli and is
178