39L Antonio Tempesta. Elephant Hunt from Hunting Scenes III, 1598.
Engraving. London, British Museum, inv. i98o-u.433-no. 414.
Photo: Courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum. © The British
Museum.collection, Pescara,^12 and a plate in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London (inv. 241-1876) likewise deco
rated with a scenic landscape in which distant figures are
occupied with activities of country life.^13
When the tabletop entered the Museum it was ac
companied by a giltwood base bearing a paper label in
scribed Lord Warwick (fig. 3 9F), indicating that it and itstabletop had come from Warwick Castle, Warwickshire.
Physical analysis indicates this base started out as a gilt
frame of mahogany or similar dark, tropical wood, possi
bly made in Italy,^14 that was used to hang the tabletop
against a wall (fig. 39G). The style of this framing ele
ment and the fact that it was produced with the aid of a
banding saw indicate that it was made sometime in the
early nineteenth century. It is possible that Lord War
wick sent the framed piece of maiolica back to England
and subsequently decided to add the less expensive
poplar or pine legs in order to use the ceramic as a table-
top (fig. 39H).^15
Notes
1. A notice in the Gazzetta toscana of December 10, 1774, mentions that
a Lord Warwick was visiting Florence (Ingamells 1997 , 51; my thanks go
to John Mallet for bringing this source to my attention).- For a discussion of Tempesta engravings as sources for a Sevres plaque
and a plate attributed to Candeloro Cappelletti of Castelli see Jestaz
1973 , 117-18, figs. 19-22; for an examination of iconographic sources
for Castelli maiolica, including Tempesta engravings, see Moro 1981,
399-400. - Thieme and Becker 1907, 15: 124; Benezit 1951, 4: 242,- Donatone
1971B, 36-37; Fittipaldi 1992, 102. - Cherubini 1865, n; Arbace 1993, LV-LVI.
5. For a brief discussion of the artist and his fame see Rosa 1981, 44-46,
no. 56; Arbace 1993, XXIX-XLVII, as well as relevant information in her
forthcoming catalogue of the Papparella-Treccia collection. - Minieri-Riccio 1878, 26.
- The Bourbon Capodimonte factory closed in 1759, and the royal factory
reopened a year later in Buen Retiro, Madrid, under Charles III.
Charles's son, Ferdinand IV, opened a royal porcelain factory in 1771 in
the Reale villa di Portici. For more information see A. Carola-Perrotti. - Thieme and Becker 1907, 15: 124; Donatone 197 IA, 24-37.
- Moccia 1968, 24-25.
10. Levy 1964, 62-63.
11. Sale cat., Sotheby's, London, November 28, lot 218.
12. Levy 1964, pis. 80-81.
13. Gonzalez-Palacios 1981B, 657, pi. 2; Rackham 1940, 1: 382-83,
no. 1152; 2: pi. 184.
14. Indeed, the framing of maiolica bowls, plates, as well as plaques—par
ticularly eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century pieces from
Castelli—in ninteenth-century giltwood frames seems to have been a
popular decorating scheme, reflecting stylistic predilections and serving
to display plaques and otherwise functional tableware as hanging ce
ramic paintings (see, for instance, Ravanelli Guidotti 1992, 3; Arbace
1993 , nos. 35-37/ 40-41, 5^ 59~6i/ 66, 7^-77/ 9^, 94/ 119, 123-25,
128-32, 134-36, 140, 147-51, 153, 168, 184-89, 197-227, 235-40, 257-
65 , 295-99; Bojani and Vossilla 1998, no. 10).
15. I would like to thank Arlen Heginbotham for his help in analyzing the
structure of the base.
Tabletop with Hunting Scenes 229