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

39

Tabletop with Hunting

Scenes

Francesco (or Filippo) Saverio Maria

Grue, called Saverio Maria or

Saverio Grue (1731-after 1802)

Castelli

ca. 1760

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 3.2 cm (1 lA in.)

Diam: 59.7 cm (23 V2 in.)

86.DE.533

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS
On the obverse, in two cartouches, FLAVA CERES

TENUS SPICIS REDEMITA CAPILLOS and

FORTUNAE SUAE QUISQUE FABER; on the

horse's haunch in the scene of Europeans hunting

a deer, SGP} on the horse's haunch in the scene of

Moors hunting ostriches, FSG.

CONDITION

Several chips and glaze faults.

PROVENANCE

Most likely acquired in Italy and brought to

Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, England, by

George Greville, second earl of Warwick (1746-

1816 ) or his son, Henry Greville, third earl of

Warwick (1779-1853);^1 removed from Warwick

Castle and placed in another residence of the earls

of Warwick; by inheritance to David Greville,

eighth earl of Warwick, in one of the residences

of the earls of Warwick (sold, Sotheby's, London,

March 4, 1986, lot 24 [listed without mention

of Warwick ownership], to W. Williams); [Winifred

Williams, London, sold to the J. Paul Getty

Museum, 1986].

EXHIBITIONS

None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Norman 1986; GettyMusJ 1 5 (1987): 217, no. 116 ;

Guillaumin 1987, 12, fig. 4; Donatone 1988,

17-18, fig. i; Hess 1988A, 116-19, no. 35; Hess

1988B, 17-28; Masterpieces 1997, 87, no. 66;

Summary Catalogue 2001, no. 377.

THIS MAIOLICA TABLETOP is painted with four elabo­

rate Rococo cartouches interspersed with landscape

scenes of birds and hares in their natural habitat; inter­

twining vegetation; and floral and fruit swags in a palette

typical of the Grue workshop: ocher, yellow, purple, light

and dark grayish blue, black, and several shades of

green—including grayish green, yellowish green, and

olive green—on a creamy white ground. The car­

touches— composed of scrolls, shells, acanthuses, and

vegetal motifs—enclose Moorish and European hunting

scenes after engravings by Antonio Tempesta. The two

figures in the foreground of Saverio's deer hunt scene are

based on the two figures in the foreground of Tempesta's

Deer Hunt from Hunting Scenes III (fig. 391); the car­

touche displaying an ostrich hunt is based on Tempesta's

engraving Ostrich Hunt from the same series (fig. 391);

the elephant hunt scene is a conflation of two separate

engravings entitled Elephant Hunt, also from Hunting

Scenes III (figs. 39K—L). Although the source has yet to

be identified, it is likely that the deer hunt in the back­

ground of this cartouche is based on another Tempesta

engraving. The final cartouche scene, a boar hunt, is also

likely to be based on one or more Tempesta hunt en­

gravings (boar hunts were a favorite subject of the en­

graver).^2 The reverse is unglazed.

This work is signed with two monograms of the

artist: 5[averio] G[rue] P[inxit] on the horse's haunch in

the scene of Europeans hunting a deer and P[rancesco or

ilippo] S[averio] G[rue] on the horse's haunch in the

scene of Moors hunting ostriches (figs. 3 9B, D). The two

cartouches on the obverse are inscribed in Latin with

"blond Ceres, whose hair is en wreathed with grain/^7 re­

ferring to the Roman goddess who is protectoress of agri­

culture and of all fruits of the earth, and "each man is the

maker of his own fortune," an antique proverb.

There is confusion regarding the proper name of this

artist: Francesco^3 or Filippo.^4 Sources do agree, however,

that he was called Saverio, was born in 1731, and was the

son of the porcelain painter Francesco Antonio Grue.

The renowned Grue family was long connected with the

manufacture of painted maiolica at Castelli, in the Ital­

ian Abruzzi region; Saverio was the last to play an im­

portant role in maiolica production.^5 Born in Atri, he

moved with his parents to nearby Castelli, where he

learned to paint. In 1747 he and his brother, Vincenzo,

received honorary Neapolitan citizenships from King

Carlo III in honor of their father, Francesco Antonio, a

renowned maiolica painter who had decorated a large se­

ries of jars for the hospital "degli incurabili" in Naples.

From 1754 to 1756 Saverio worked in the royal maiolica

222