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

14

Jar with the Profile of

a Young Man

Deruta or Montelupo

ca. 1460-80

Tin-glazed earthenware

H: 22.9 cm (9 in.)

Diam (at lip): 11.2 cm [4.V16 in.)

W (max.): 23.8 cm J9^3 /s in.)

84.DE.102

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS
Under the foot, marks inscribed after firing
(fig. 14c).^1

CONDITION

Minor glaze chips on the handles and rim; some

areas of glaze loss around the base that, because of

their spacing and roughly oval shape, appear to be

finger marks made when the ceramist gripped the

piece to dip it upside down into glaze. (The oil

from his fingers would have kept the glaze from

adhering properly to the jar.) The object underwent

thermoluminescence analysis in 1987, returning a

result that the material is consistent with the ex­

pected age of the object (i.e., that the material was

last fired between 400 and 610 years ago). Nuclear

activation analysis 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

Sold, Christie's, London, October 3, 1983, lot 237

to R. Zietz; [Rainer Zietz, Ltd., London, sold to the

J. Paul Getty Museum, 1984].

EXHIBITIONS

None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GettyMusJ 1 3 (1985): 240, no. i6o; Hess 1988A,

no. 14; Donatone 1993A, pis. 47, 162 bottom left;

Summary Catalogue 2001 , no. 353.

THIS GENTLY WAISTED JAR with two ribbed handles is

painted on one side with the profile bust of a young man

in a feathered hat bordered by unusually slender scroll­

ing foliage, and on the other with a geometric X pattern,

flowers, and flat leaves placed vertically surrounded by

dots. The decoration on both sides is painted in panels

bordered by a vertical braid design. The jar's long and up­

wardly slanting neck—an uncommon feature—displays

a distinctive pattern comprised of triangular sections of

curved stripes interspersed with areas of thinner lines.

The jar's embellishment is executed primarily in blue

and ocher, although a light copper green colors the young

man's pointed hat on one side, and curving and straight

bands on the other. The interior is lead glazed.

As with the previous object, this jar underwent neu­

tron activation analysis in spring 2001 under the direc­

tion of scientist Michael Hughes, formerly of the British

Museum, London. The analysis was carried out at the

University of Missouri Research Reactor, and the data

was compared against the British Museum database.^2

The results of the analysis show that the clay of this jug

originated from the lower mid-Arno Valley, most likely

from either Deruta or Montelupo. In fact, the informa­

tion about this piece compared so closely with that of

no. 13 (inv. 84.DE.101) that the two objects can be attrib­

uted to the same center of production. Unfortunately the

attribution remains inconclusive, as does that of the pre­

ceding object. As before, to help determine attribution,

stylistic comparisons were made between this two-

handled jar and ceramics securely attributed to both

centers.

Like no. 13, this jar displays similarities to objects

from both places: for example, comparable profile busts

appear on drug jars and plates attributed to both Deruta^3

and Montelupo.^4 The decorative motifs—such as the

stiff leaves surrounded by dots, the X pattern formed by

four small marks extending from the sides to the middle

of a square, and the stylized twisted rope motif flanking

the handles—appear on objects from Deruta (fig. 14D),

most significantly on fragments found in excavations of

local kiln sites.^5 However, comparable elements—such

as the profile bust with hat, geometric motifs, stripe

decoration in triangular shapes, rosettes, curved lines re­

sembling a twisted rope, and fields of dots—also show

up on Montelupo examples, many of which originate, as

well, from kiln sites (fig. 14E).^6 For now, the attribution

of this jar must include both Deruta and Montelupo.

The depiction of the young man in contemporary

dress corresponds to comparable depictions on jars data­

ble to the last decades of the fifteenth century. These in­

clude an albarello from Pesaro of ca. 1480-90 in the

Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. 364-1889);^7

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