i IE Gentile da Fabriano (Italian, 1370-1427). Madonna and Child (detail),
ca. 1424-25. Tempera on panel, 91.4 x 62.9 cm (36 x 243 /4 in.). New
Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Art Gallery, University Purchase
from James Jackson Jarves.
Notes
- One is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (Rackham 1940, 1:
no. 52; 2: pi. 12; Wallis 1904, fig. 23); a second is in the collection of
the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Poole 1995, 108-10, no. 164);
and a third was formerly in the della Gherardesca collection, Bolgheri
(sold, Finarte, Milan, November 21-22, 1963, lot 141, pi. 75). This
third example is the closest to the Getty jar regarding shape, scale, and
decoration. Other single handles are found on a few jars, but their longer
form, extending down the body of the vessel, suggests they served for
gripping with the hand rather than for suspension.
- Suggested by John Mallet in May 2001.
- The scrollwork around the neck and above the shoulder is nearly identi
cal to, and apparently derived from, the Chinese "classic scroll" motif
used as border decoration primarily on porcelain from the Yuan (1271-
1368 ) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. See, for example, Krahl 1986,
2: nos. 571, 581, 583, 586 , 593, 595. For another example on Italian
maiolica, see Carswell 1985, 150, no. 90.
4. Kufi is an angular, early Islamic style of the handwritten alphabet. This
script was used to record the Qur'an and for inscriptions on tombstones,
coins, and buildings. Berti 1997 , 256-63, especially nos. 92, 94-96;
Berti 1999, 126, fig. 43.
- Ray 2000, 46-47, 56, 66-68, nos. 94, 96, 122, 134-39; Rackham
1940 , 1: 13-14, no. 50; 2: no. 50 in pi. 10.
- Islamic fabrics, desired for their rich decoration, were imported into
Italy in large quantities in the fifteenth century and likely served as a
primary source for ceramic embellishment, including Kufic patterns
(Lightbown 1980, 449-55).
- For a discussion of this phenomenon, see Soulier 1924, 347-58.
- I would like to thank Tarek Naga for his help in interpreting these in
scriptions. For more information on this subject, see Contadini 1999,
esp. 5-9.
- See, for example, a blue, black, and white albarello of the first half of
the fifteenth century from Damascus in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs,
Paris (Spallanzani 1978, pi. 1). Although this work was likely produced
for the Florentine market, aside from the shield with fleur-de-lis, its
painted motifs derive from eastern Mediterranean products.
- Caiger-Smith 1973, 59. For examples of this knotwork design on Is
lamic metalwork, see Baer 1983, fig. 180. For this pattern on Hispano-
Moresque ceramics, see Gonzalez Marti 1944-52, 2: 355-74 passim,
especially figs. 472-73; Caiger-Smith 1973, fig. 10.
- Hausmann 1972, 99; for further examples see Gonzalez Marti 1944-
52 , 3: pi. 4, figs. 90-94/ 142, 174-
- Montagut 1990, 41-45.
- Berti 1999, 127-28, 238-39, pis. 11-15.
- Rackham 1940 , 1: nos. 51-52, 68, 70; 2: pis. 12-13.
- Two from the Cora collection (Bojani, Ravanelli Guidotti, and Fanfani
1985, nos. 436-37) and one from the Fanfani collection (Ravanelli
Guidotti 1990, 22-25, no- l)-
- Hausmann 1972, no. 76.
- Giacomotti 1974, no. 54.
- Ballardini 1934, pi. 3, nos. 5-6; Chompret 1949, 2: nos. 655-56; sale
cat., Sotheby's, London, April 23, 1974 , lot 38, from the collection of
Thomas Harris, London; sale cat., Semenzato, Florence, November 11,
1987 , lot 319.
- Conti 1971A, no. 339; Cora 1973, 2: no. 132b.
- Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte 1958, 23, no. 46.
- Mez-Mangold 1990, 99 top,- Thomann 1962, pi. 8; Castiglioni 1922,
pi. 8c; Mariaux 1995, 74, 166, no. 12.
- Dahlback-Lutteman 1981, 48, fig. 6.
- Ravanelli Guidotti 1990, 24, fig. 7m
- Pedrazzini 1934, 147.
- Gardelli 1999, no. 146.
- Rackham 1940, 1: no. 70; 2: pi. 13; Gardelli 1999 , no. 146.
Jar with a Kufic Pattern 73
