Urbino Maiolica Pilgrim Bottle

Maker Fontana Workshop (Italian ceramics workshop, active from the 1540s to the 1580s)

Possiblypossibly by Orazio Fontana (Italian, 1510 - 1571)

Collections

European Decorative Art Highlights

ClassificationsDECORATIVE ARTS

Dateca. 1555-1560

Mediumtin-glazed earthenware

DescriptionThis pear-shaped pilgrim bottle with cover and horned-mask handles is decorated on one side with a depiction of the Great Prostitute, Babylon from the Apocalypse (17-19). The image is derived from Bernard Salomon's woodcuts for "Figures du Nouveau Testament" published in 1554. The other side of the bottle shows a scene from the biblical book of Genesis (21:17-21) in which an angel of God appeared to a slave woman named Hagar and her son Ishmael to save them.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Arabella D. Huntington Memorial Art Collection.

Status

On view

Label TextMaiolica was prized for the brilliant and refined quality of its decoration, made possible by the ceramics' tin-based glaze. The technique was developed by Islamic craftsmen and reached Italy in the late Middle Ages via North Africa and Spain. By the 16th century, Italian craftsmen began to paint detailed narrative scenes and, later in the century, grotesques, patterns of fantastic figures derived from ancient Roman wall paintings. Maiolica took many forms, including functional jars, bowls, and other wares as well as fancier works intended solely for display, such as the flask here, whose shape mimics the hollowed-out gourds in which travelers carried drinking water.

Object number27.171