Description:
Plate with bearded, turbaned figure on a galloping horse at center holding a lance; buildings in the background with vegetal motifs and flowers; the rim is divided into four sections of colored bands, fish scale decoration, and vegetal motifs; the back is signed with a monogram.
Label Text:
After the Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529, Turkish lancers began to appear on Italian glazed ceramics as a generic figural motif. Particularly in Deruta, a prolific center of production of majolica during the Renaissance, the lancer appears surrounded by a series of quartieri, the sectioned border decoration that includes alternating scaling and foliage. These plates served a decorative function and would have likely been paired with other ceramic dishes with accompanying images.
The back of this dish features two large spirals, as well as a central zig-zag crossed with a line. This specific combination could represent a workshop signature. It is consistent with the Turkish Lancer in the Fitzwilliam Collection and a nearly identical one in the collection of the British Museum, supporting an attribution to the extended workshop of the celebrated Giacomo “El frate” Mancini.
Lawrence Gianangeli ‘24, MA candidate in the History of Art, UMass Amherst, Summer 2023
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1986.19 |
