hospital.^15 Established around the tenth century, the
hospital became increasingly important and was de
scribed in the sixteenth century as "the most beautiful
in the world."^16 On May 17, 1316, the Florentine town
council authorized the opening of a branch in the Tuscan
capital on what was to be called via della Scala. The Flo
rentine branch became prominent, maintaining almost
complete autonomy until 1535, when it was combined
with the Florentine Ospedale degli Innocenti.^17 Since ap
parently all Tuscan branches of the Santa Maria della
Scala hospital used the cross-and-ladder emblem, one
cannot be certain for which branch the present jar was
produced. Maiolica products displaying the emblem in
clude mid-fifteenth-century two-handled drug jars^18 and
mid-sixteenth-century dishes.^19
Notes
- Bojani, Ravanelli Guidotti, and Fanfani 1985, 1: nos. 181, 222,
225, 707- - The liquid pigment includes a large proportion of lead.
- Argnani 1898; Bode 1898, 206-17.
- Wallis 1903, xx. Both Bode (1898) and Wallis (1903) published the
present jar. - Hausmann 1972, 96.
- Valeri 1984, 490-93; Valeri 1996, 128-32; Wardwell 1976-77,
177-226. - Wardwell 1976-77, especially 186-87.
- Roncaglia 1992, 16-17.
- Roncaglia 1992, 17.
- Cora 1973, 1: 76; Roncaglia 1992, 16.
- See, for example, Soler et al. 1992, nos. 92, 94, 107, 113, 116, 118,
122-24; Mazza 1983, nos. 81, 182, 193, 205. - Wallis 1903, 22, fig. 20; Chompret 1949, 2: fig. 635; Bode 1911, 1 4
right; sale cat., Sotheby's 1965 , lot 19. - Inv. OA 3982; Giacomotti 1974, 12-13, no. 30.
- Cora 1973, 2: fig. 68; Conti 1971A, no. 509; Bojani, Ravanelli Guidotti,
and Fanfani 1985, 276, no. 707. - Park 1985, 104, no. 60.
- Bellucci and Torriti 1991, 46; this source also discusses medical
arrangements at the hospital (44-50). - Cora 1973, 1: 76.
- Cora 1973, 2: figs. 91, 92c.
- See Ballardini 1933, 1: nos. 64-67; Rackham 1940, 1: nos. 642-43.
Relief-Blue Jar with Harpies and Birds 41