Terms and Conditions
The artist, title and date of the work must be listed anywhere the image is reproduced:
Italy, Faenza
Plate 1519
earthenware (maiolica)
5.3 × 25.5 cm diameter
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1940
Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
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Plate
1519
Medium
earthenware (maiolica)
Measurements
5.3 × 25.5 cm diameter
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1940
Gallery location
16th & 17th Century Gallery - Painting and Sculpture
Mezzanine linked to Level 1, NGV International
About this work
The grotesque decoration of this maiolica plate is a classic example of sixteenth-century Italian adaptation of the ancient Roman decorative style. The grotesque is made up of tightly interlaced vegetal scrolls, some of which transform into dolphins’ heads. Books and masks are interspersed throughout the ornament, some of the latter with the date 1519, others bearing the SPQR cipher of the Roman commune. The density of the grotesque ornament is more exaggerated than the airy, open ornament of the Roman period, and the colour palette of the ceramic glazes is richer and heavier.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Faenza, Italy
Inscription
painted in blue on inside rim u.c.: 1519
painted (inverted) in blue on inside rim l.c.: 1519
painted in blue on base c.: o / (right pointing arrow) X (left pointing arrow) / (upward arrow) (all in a circle)
Accession Number
4672-D3
Department
International Decorative Arts
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Dame Carol Colburn-Grigor CBE through Metal Manufactures Limited