3 B Alternate view.
in turn appear to have been influenced by motifs origi
nating in the Islamic eastern Mediterranean.^14 Maiolica
decoration therefore may display Islamic motifs that
were indirectly transmitted to the ceramic medium
through other Renaissance Italian decorative arts.
3 c Plate with a bird. Viterbo, first half of the fifteenth century. Tin-glazed
earthenware, Diam: 28.3 cm (11 lA in.). Viterbo, private collection. The
similarity of the decoration on this plate to the Getty jug suggests that
this bird, leaf, and berry design was popular in the early fifteenth cen
tury. It is also possible that both objects were produced in the same
workshop. The acorn above the wing on the plate helps identify the
similar but harder-to-distinguish element in the same position on the
jug; its foliate motif depicts oak leaves.Notes- The form of this jug corresponds to Francovich's category A.7.1
(Francovich 1982, 128), which, he speculates, marks a transition from
an earlier shape with a higher foot and wider neck that was diffuse
throughout Tuscany—with variants in Umbria, Lazio, and Emilia-
Romagna, Liguria, the Veneto—and a later, broader one found more
specifically in the area of the Maremma in southern Tuscany; appar
ently A.7.1 is also common to the Maremma area, especially the
Nicchia district. - See Ballardini 1933, 1: 13 -14; for a helpful schema see Ballardini
1938, 2: 10. Based on classifications of ancient pottery, Ballardini's
categories are organized according to the wares' decorative motifs. Al
though scholars have become increasingly aware of the importance of
such factors as object shape as well as clay body and glaze composition
in grouping maiolica wares, Ballardini's classification remains helpful in
establishing a basic chronology of maiolica decoration. More recently,
Galeazzo Cora established nineteen major categories of early Italian
Gieen-Painted Jug with a Bird 3 3