Faenza, Bergantini (?) workshop circa 1535 - 1545

Scannellato "crespina" to "quartieri" dish with blue "berettino" background
Tondo: Saint Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata; Monogram FH

Verso: ".B." mark under the foot
Earthenware
Diameter: 25.7 cm (fracture and small chips)
Provenance: Alfred Pringsheim Collection, (4th day) July 20, 1939, pp. 106 & 107, n.364 (by Virgiliotto Calamelli da Faenza, circa 1540), purchased by Alfred Spero.
Paolo Sprovieri Collection (1936 - 2003)

Bibliography: Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, n. 268; Otto von Falke, 1994, III, n. 347; Timothy Wilson, Italian Maiolica of the Renaissance, Milano 1996, p. 136 and 137, n. 063, (reproduced)

This pedestal dish is as interesting for its deep form, punctuated by spiral gadroons rising from a central umbilicus, as for its rich polychrome decoration, featuring the image of Saint Francis receiving the stigmata from a seraph in a landscape.

This iconography is based on Giotto's famous painting, and has been interpreted over the centuries. Here, the image is flanked by a monogram that can be read as "FH". While the "F" may refer to the first name of the saint depicted, the initial "H" remains enigmatic. The rim of the dish is richly decorated with a spiral pattern that follows the relief, with compartments filled with rinceaux highlighted in white, sometimes on a blue background (berettino) and sometimes on an ochre background, while the ends are alternated in green and yellow. The gadrooned reverse is simply covered in blue. The ".B." mark on the inside of the pedestal may evoke the name of the painter or the workshop (Bergantini?). From the prestigious Pringsheim collection, universally recognized for its quality, this dish is a magnificent example of the type of ceramics produced in Faenza during the second quarter of the 16th century.