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

13

Jug with Bust Medallion

Deruta or Montelupo

ca. 1460-90

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 34.6 cm (i3^5 /s in.)

Diam (at rim): 9. 8 cm (3^7 /s in.)

W (max.): 33 cm (13 in.)

84.DE.101

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS

None.

CONDITION
Touched-in glaze chips on the left side of the bust
near the foliate scrolls; filling and repainting at the
top and bottom of the spout; repainting around the

incised circles on the left side and on the area of

hair below the chin; some extensive repainting of

the blue leaf decoration on the left side near the

top. The jug underwent thermoluminescence

analysis in 1987, returning a result that the mate­

rial is consistent with the expected age of the ob­

ject (i.e., that the material was last fired between

390 and 600 years ago). Neutron activation analy­

sis has determined that this jug was produced with

clay originating in the lower mid-Arno Valley,

showing the closest similarities to examples from

Deruta and Montelupo.

PROVENANCE

Ancestors of the Savile family, Rufford Abbey,

Nottingham, active in collecting since the late

seventeenth century,- by inheritance to John Savile

Lumley-Savile, second Lord Savile (d. 1931),

Rufford Abbey, Nottingham; by inheritance to

George Halifax Lumley-Savile (b. 1919), third Lord

Savile, Rufford Abbey, Nottingham (sold, Knight,

Frank, and Rutley in association with Christie's,

on Rufford Abbey premises, October 11-20, 1938,

lot 879); [Alfred Spero, London] (sold, Sotheby's,

London, December 4, 1956, lot 24); Robert

Strauss, England (sold, Christie's, London, June 21,

1976, lot 7); [Rainer Zietz, Ltd., London; sold to

the J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984].

EXHIBITIONS

None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Christie's Review 1976, 394; Morley-Fletcher and

Mcllroy 1984, 26, fig. 3; GettyMusJ 13 (1985):

239, no. 154; Hess 1988A, no. 13; Fiocco and

Gherardi 1994, 154, no. 18; Fiocco and Gherardi

2000, 15-16 and fig. 2; Summary Catalogue

2001, 352.

THIS LARGE OVIFORM JUG has a wide strap handle,

small mouth and neck, and long spout projecting almost

horizontally from the upper body. Given its rudimentary

and robust form, this jug might have been used for the

transport or serving of wine or water.

Based on its characteristic decoration, this piece can

be identified as an early example of the so-called Gothic-

floral family dating from roughly 1460 to 1490.^1 The area

below the spout is decorated with a bust in blue and olive

green reserved against a background of stylized, feathered

leaves, all enclosed in a circular band of copper green dots

and heavily applied manganese pigment incised with

scrolls linking circles. Wide, scrolling leaves [a cartoccio)

in dark and light blue, manganese purple, and green sur­

round the circular band. The handle and rear third of this

vessel are undecorated. The interior is lead glazed.

Although the subject's style of dress, with full

sleeves and turned-back collar, is typical of mid-

fifteenth-century masculine fashion, the long hair would

suggest that the subject is a woman. Also ambiguous is

whether the bust depicts a young or old subject. It is pos­

sible that, although awkward, the lines on the neck and

face of this figure were not meant to indicate wrinkles

but, rather, to shape and define the image. In the second

half of the fifteenth century potters were just learning

the necessary techniques to render the figural decoration

13 A Alternate view.

78