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

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10

Jar with Foliate

Decoration

Montelupo

Mid-fifteenth century

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 18.6 cm (7 5 /i6 in.)

Diam (at lip): 10.5 cm (4V8 in.)

W (max.): 11.8 cm (4 5 /s in.)

84.DE.100

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS

None.

CONDITION

Chips on the rini; minor crack through the body

with overpainting.

PROVENANCE

Sold, Sotheby's, London, November 22, 1983, l

194, to R. Zietz; [Rainer Zietz, Ltd., London, sol

to the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984].

EXHIBITIONS

None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GettyMusJ 13 (1985): 239, no. 153; Hess 1988A,

no. ii; Summary Catalogue 2001,

no. 349.

THIS CYLINDRICAL JAR, or albaiello, with waisted neck

and tapering foot, is divided into horizontal zones by

light yellowish green bands outlined in grayish blue. The

wide zone around the body displays a series of stylized

flowers enclosed in circles and surrounded by foliate

scrolls. This area is bordered below by incised flat

leaves—sometimes called foglie di gelso, or mulberry

leaves 1 —in alternating manganese and cobalt intermin­

gled with thin, curved ones. Blue foliate scrolls inter­

spersed with parallel lines ornament the shoulder, and

additional foliate scrolls run around the neck. 2

The incised flat-leaf motif in the lower section is de­

rived from Hispano-Moresque designs that spread to

Italy (fig. IOB), 3 becoming popular in Tuscany. 4 In par­

ticular, Montelupo potters imitated various types of

Hispano-Moresque decoration, including metallic luster

and the so-called parsley leaf (foglia di prezzemolo) pat­

tern. 5 Similar versions of the uncommon rosette motif

also appear on Hispano-Moresque works (fig. 10c), and

the Italian designs may be derived from, or at least have

been influenced by, that source. 6 It is equally likely, how­

ever, that such a generalized motif was developed inde­

pendently in Italy.

Comparable decoration is found on ceramic frag­

ments excavated at kiln sites in the town of Montelupo

(fig. IOD). These fragments display not only very similar

floral medallions, foliate scrolls, andHispano-Moresque-

inspired incised leaves, but also the same limited palette

of blackish blue, pale green, and dark brown manganese. 7

Most of these works can be dated to the first decades of

1 OA Alernate view.

the second half of the fifteenth century, although the

rather archaic quality of this jar's decoration suggests

that it was executed shortly before mid-century.

For essentially functional maiolica objects such as

this drug jar, efficiency of production was a prime

concern. Apparently painted in haste, this work affords

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