io Workshop of Guido Durantino (active in Urbino, d. 1576). Plate of
David and Goliath, from the Cardinal Duprat service, 1535. Diam: 44
cm (17 V3 in.). Paris, Musee du Louvre, inv. MR 2201. Photo: © Reunion
des Musees Nationaux. The opening to the channel for draining off
liquid is cleverly located at the lowest point of the river, where it
disappears underground.11 Nicola da Urbino (Urbino, fl. 15 20-15 3 7/8). Plate of Apollo and
Daphne, ca. 1525. London, British Museum, inv. MLA 1855, 1201,
103. © The British Museum. The duchess of Urbino may have
been referring to the service to which this plate belongs, comprising
twenty-one plates and bowls and marked with the Este-Gonzaga
coat of arms.been scarred by eating utensils, then relatively common
in Italian courts. Moreover, there is not one representa
tion of an istohato plate in an Italian Renaissance paint
ing. One scholar, John Mallet, believes that the new and
great variety of shapes given to maiolica plates must
have developed as a result of the plates^7 varied functions
at the dining table. Indeed, some evidence does exist to
suggest that istohato maiolica might have been used, al
beit rarely, for dining. For example, Mallet points out the
unambiguous function of a large plate of 1535 from a
service belonging to an illustrious French patron, Cardi
nal Duprat (fig. 10). This plate, depicting the subject of
David and Goliath, includes a clever outlet for gravy or
some other liquid on its underside, originating from and
hidden in the stream on the front.^16 Documents also tell
us that Pope Clement VII preferred to eat from maiolica
painted with bianco sopra bianco rather than with isto
hato decoration, which he had lesser church officials
use. His opinion would seem to have been shared by
Isabella d'Este's mother, Eleonora, who gave her daugh
ter an important istohato maiolica service in 1524 and
noted that this service was suitable for use in the casual
setting of Isabella's county villa (fig. n).^17
Used to illustrate these narrative ceramics, prints
and engravings, which proliferated in the mid-fifteenth
century, brought once esoteric imagery into wider circu
lation. Especially in the Marches region of central Italy,
maiolica painters used prints by German and Italian
masters such as Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Diirer, and
Marcantonio Raimondi as cartoons for their ceramic
paintings (see nos. 25, 29). They adapted the scenes and
figures from the prints to the generally circular shapes of
the ceramics and transferred the designs to the wares.
From Piccolpasso we know that ceramists copied works
on paper freehand (probably including prints and draw
ings both) (fig. 12). Yet, since so many print images ap
pear repeatedly—and almost identically—on istohato
plates, it appears that painters used the cartoons as sten
cils or templates in order to copy more precisely the de
sired scenes and figures. They would have transferred
these images by pricking a cartoon with small holes,
placing the cartoon on the ceramic surface, and tapping
it with a bag filled with a dark powder (fig. 13). This pro
cess left a series of small dots under the cartoon that
served to guide the painting yet burned away during
firing, leaving no trace.8 Introduction