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

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Hispano-Moresque Basin

Valencia region, Manises (Spain)

Mid-fifteenth century

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 10.8 cm (4V4 in.)

Diam: 49.5 cm (19V2 in.)

85.DE.44 1

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS

On the obverse, in the center, IHS.

CONDITION

Some minor chips and glaze faults.

PROVENANCE

[Leonardo Lapiccirella, Florence]; (sold, Christie'

London, July 1, 1985, lot 270, to R. Zietz);

[Rainer Zietz, Ltd., London, sold to the J. Paul

Getty Museum, 1985].

EXHIBITIONS

Italian Renaissance Maiolica from the William A.

Clark Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of

Art, March 5-May 17, 1987.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Conti 1973, pi. 8; "The Sale-Room," Apollo, no.

12 2 (1985): 405, no. 5; GettyMusJ 14 (1986): 252,

no. 214; Hess 1988A, no. 2; Hess 1990A, i;

Musacchio 1999, 93, fig. 74; Museum Handbook

2001, 236; Summary Catalogue 2001, no. 383.

THIS BASIN (called a brasero) has a flat bottom, nearly

vertical sides sloping slightly outward, and a flat rim.

The painted decoration is executed in cobalt blue pig­

ment and copper red luster,- Spanish Moors had mastered

the metallic luster technique by the eleventh century,

and by 1415 Malagan and Murcian potters had brought

this technique to the Valencian region.^1

The center of the obverse is inscribed IHS (Jesus

Hominum Salvator). Saint Bernardino of Siena, who died

in 1444, began in 1425 to hold up this monogram sur­

rounded by rays of light for veneration at the end of his

sermons, and it came to be associated with the saint and

his missionary work (fig. 2C). The monogram, complete

with radiating shafts of light, appears on Italian ceramics

datable from 1425 to after 1450, the date of Saint

Bernardino's canonization.^2 The monogram on this mid-

fifteenth-century Spanish basin probably reflects the in­

creased interest at that time in the saint's teachings,

which were spread through his Spanish disciple, Fray

Mateo de Agrigento.^3

The piece is further embellished with a radiating leaf

pattern that extends over the rim and down the sides of

the exterior,- the reverse displays alternating wide and

narrow concentric bands. The floral and foliate decora­

tion includes a three-part leaf in blue identified as a

bryony leaf [brionia, a vine of the gourd family)^4 or fleur-

de-lis,^5 a small flower in blue with a gold luster center

sometimes identified as a daisy [floi de margahta),^6 and

tendrils bearing hatch marks in luster identified as ferns

[helechos).^7 One finds this leaf-spray embellishment in

various configurations on Hispano-Moresque wares of

the second and third quarters of the fifteenth century

(figs. 2D-F).^8 This foliate motif spread from Spain to

Italy and became popular on Italian wares—especially in

the area around Florence—toward the end of the cen­

tury.^9 Works decorated in this manner were also favored

and collected in France, where this leaf-spray motif is re­

ferred to as feuillages pers (greenish blue foliage). They

are included in important inventories such as that of

King Rene of Anjou.^10

More shallow versions of this type of Valencian dish

may have been used as serving dishes, whereas the

deeper versions may have functioned as refreshment

coolers and wash basins (fig. 2G). The large scale, elabo­

rate decoration, and excellent state of preservation of the

Museum's dish suggest that it was intended for display,

perhaps on a credenza. Similar dishes with leaf-spray

embellishment and the Saint Bernardino monogram,

many of which are basins and display concentric bands

on the reverse, include those in the Kunstmuseum, Diis-

seldorf^11 formerly in the Bak collection, New York;^12 for­

merly in the Vieweg collection, Braunschweig;^13 in the

Musee du Louvre, Paris (inv. OA 1223-24, 4029, 4032); in

the Musee de Cluny, Paris (inv. 2471, 2753);^14 in the

Museo Nazionale, Palazzo del Bargello, Florence;^15 for­

merly in the M. Boy collection, Paris,-^16 in the Victoria

and Albert Museum, London (inv. C.2046-1910);^17 for­

merly in the Emile Gaillard collection, Paris,-^18 in the

Hispanic Society of America, New York,-^19 in the Toledo

Museum of Art;^20 in the Gonzalez Marti collection, Va­

lencia,-^21 formerly in the Francis Wilson Mark collection,

Palma de Mallorca and London,-^22 and in the British Mu­

seum, London.^23

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