Urbino - Lot 301

Lot 301
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Estimation :
20000 - 30000 EUR
Urbino - Lot 301
Urbino Goblet for giving birth, scodella, in circular majolica on a polychrome decorated pedestal in the centre of a woman sitting in a bed in an interior framed by a fireplace and draperies, accompanied by two women bringing a cup and a goblet, the rim highlighted with orange and yellow interlacing, the exterior polychrome decorated on a blue background with putti, dolphins, pans flutes, fruit and cups and two cartouches, one bearing the signature of Francesco Xanto Avelli: F.X. A.R. and the other the date M.D.XXX.K, the foot underlined by a garland of foliage. The painting by Francesco Xanto Avelli da Rovigo 16th century, circa 1530. Slight crack, a restored chip on the edge, a few splinters. D. 17 cm, H. 9.5 cm. From the 15th century it is customary to offer a woman delivered after childbirth a majolica set called servizio di impagliata. This set generally consisted of five pieces: a bowl or cup (scodella) and its lid (tagliere) surmounted by a goblet (onaresca), a saltcellar (saliera) and a lid (coperchio). Cipriano Piccolpasso (1523-24 1579) illustrates the scheme of such a set in his Tre libri dell'arte del vasaio (around 1557). There does not seem to be a complete ensemble that has come down to us. Three other birth or scodella cups by Francesco Xanto Avelli are known today. One dating from around 1530 is kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum and reproduced by John Mallet, Xanto, Pettery-painter, poet, man of the Italian Renaissance, 2007, no. 32, pp. 112-113. Another preserved at the Correr Museum in Venice bearing the same date as our cup (Gaetano Ballardini, Corpus de la maiolica italiana, le maioliche datate fino al 1530, 1933, vol. I, no. 228-229), the third was in the old Pringsheim collection (Otto von Falke, Le maioliche italiane della collezione Pringsheim, 1914-1923, no. 259). A tagliere or birth cup lid, attr
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