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

4

Relief-Blue Jar with

Harpies and Birds

Probably the workshop of Piero di

Mazzeo (Maseo, Mazeo) (b. 1377)

Florence or possibly Siena

ca. 1420-40

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 31.1 cm (12 lA in.)

Diam (at lip): 14.3 cm (5^5 /s in.)

W (max.): 29.8 cm (n^3 A in.)

85.DE.5 6

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS
On each side, a ladder surmounted by a cross; be­
low each handle a P, possibly intertwined with a
backward C.

CONDITION

Previously broken and repaired; some overpaint-

ing, particularly around the lip and neck on the

left of the side with birds and on the right-hand

bird; approximately three-quarters of glaze on the

top rim has worn off.

PROVENANCE

Wilhelm von Bode, Berlin, by 1898, sold to

K. Glogowski; Kurt Glogowski, Berlin (sold,

Sotheby's, London, June 8, 1932, lot 58, to

A. Lederer); August Lederer (d. 1936), Vienna,- by

inheritance to his widow, Serena Lederer, 1936;

Serena Lederer, Vienna,- looted from Serena Led-

erer's collection by the Nazis, 1938; stored in Nazi

depot in Vienna at Bartensteingasse, 8 (it appears

as no. 182 on inventory list); restituted by the

Austrian government to her son, Erich Lederer,

1947 ; Erich Lederer (1896-1985), Geneva,- by in­

heritance to his widow, Elisabeth Lederer, 1985,-

Elisabeth Lederer, Geneva; sold to the J. Paul Getty

Museum, 1985.

EXHIBITIONS

Ausstellung von Kunstwerken des Mittelalters

und der Renaissance aus Berliner Privatbesitz,

Kunstgeschichtliche Gesellschaft, Berlin, May 20-

July 3, 1898.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bode 1898, 206; Berlin 1899, pi. 48 , fig. (^2) } Wallis
1903 , 9, fig. 7; Bode 1911, pi. 14; Chompret
1949 , 2: fig. 648; Conti 1969, 47, fig. n; Conti
1971B, 22; Cora 1973, 1: 76; 2: pis. 61-62, 63c,-
Conti 1980, pis. 45-46; Valeri 1984, fig. 4B;
GettyMusJ 14 (1986): 251, no. (^211) ; Hess 1988A,
no. 5; Conti et al. 1991, 17, 265, fig. 3, no. 15 i;
Summary Catalogue 2001, no. 343.
THIS LARGE TWO-HANDLED JAR (or orciuolo biansato)
is of an exceptionally bold and unusual shape. Indeed, its
wide cylindrical body, tall neck, high foot, and ribbed,
outward-jutting handles comprise a singular form, not
encountered in other examples. The center of each side
displays a short ladder surmounted by a cross framed on
one side by two birds, sometimes identified as peacocks,^1
and on the other side by two human-faced birds, or
Harpies. The surface is further decorated with leaves and
dots (often called bacche, "berries"). This decoration is
painted in an exceptionally thick, cobalt blue impasto^2
outlined in and scattered with touches of manganese
purple on a pinkish white ground. Vertical patterns in
manganese purple of double dashes between three paral­
lel stripes border each side of the jar's body. The interior
is tin glazed.
The leaf decoration on this jar—alternately known
as pastoser Blau, zaffem a rilievo, relief-blue, or oak-leaf
decoration—is one of the first decorative typologies to
be recognized and discussed as a coherent group. In 1898
both Federigo Argnani and Wilhelm von Bode first
grouped them together and described their painted deco­
ration as raised from the surface of the ceramic,^3 and five
years later, Henry Wallis identified the motif as oak
4A Alternate view.
36