Dish
workshop of Guido di Benedetto Merlino (active 1523 –1558)
Category
Ceramics
Date
c. 1545
Materials
Tin-glazed earthen- ware decorated in colours
Measurements
47 cm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Urbino
Order this imageCollection
Knightshayes Court, Devon
NT 540387
Caption
At the height of the Italian Renaissance, exceptional-quality ceramics were produced to be displayed as examples of high art, rather like paintings. The whole surface of this dish is treated as a picture and depicts a battle scene between the Romans and the Samnites, a story from The History of Rome by Titus Livius (Livy, 59bc–ad17). The composition creates a dizzying sense of the heat of the battle: spears are wielded with terrifying vigour, horses trample on fallen assailants, and a victorious banner representing Rome is held aloft. This particularly high-status, tin-glazed earthenware dish is an example of a type known as maiolica. It was made in the workshop of Guido di Benedetto Merlino (active 1523–58), a master potter based in Urbino. He employed numerous artists to depict Roman histories, mythologies and religious images known as istoriati (story paintings).
Summary
Made in the workshop of Guido di Benedetto Merlino around 1545, this is a high status piece of tin-glazed earthenware, known in Italy as maiolica. It is richly painted in the 'istoriato' (‘story painting’) style. Cavalry bearing the Roman Republic’s SPQR banner dominate a scene full of incident, crowded with figures, faces glimpsed at all angles, discarded and broken weapons, wounded and dead men and horses. An inscription on the reverse translates as ‘How the Romans defeated the Samnites under the consulate of Valerius Corvinus. Made in the workshop of Guido di Merlino. See Titus Livius third deca [group of ten books] Chapter 23’. The subject is from the Roman author Livy’s (Titus Livius) The History of Rome, which was hugely important in the Renaissance revival of interest in Roman literature and history.
Full description
This dish is a high status piece of tin-glazed earthenware, known in Italy as maiolica. It was made in the workshop of Guido di Benedetto Merlino, around 1545. It is richly painted in the 'istoriato' (‘story painting’) style. Sir John Heathcoat-Amory purchased the dish and other pieces for Knightshayes in 1946, from the Reverend Thomas Berney’s notable collection of maiolica, which he had formed at Bracon Hall, Norfolk, in the nineteenth-century. 'Istoriato' emerged as a new style of decoration around 1500 and was often inspired by the work of contemporary artists. Di Merlino’s workshop was in Urbino, one of the major centres of production. This and other known Di Merlino pieces depict characteristic istoriato scenes from Roman history, mythology and the Bible. Di Merlino employed a number of painters, notably Francesco Durantino. The entire surface of this dish is treated as a picture. Cavalry bearing the Roman Republic’s SPQR banner dominate a scene full of incident, crowded with figures, faces glimpsed at all angles, discarded and broken weapons, wounded and dead men and horses. An inscription on the reverse translates as ‘How the Romans defeated the Samnites under the consulate of Valerius Corvinus. Made in the workshop of Guido di Merlino. See Titus Livius third deca [group of ten books] Chapter 23’. The subject is from the Roman author Livy’s (Titus Livius) The History of Rome, which was hugely important in the Renaissance revival of interest in Roman literature and history. Marcus Valerius Corvus defeated the Samnites, from central southern Italy, in the first battle of the first Samnite War in 343–341BC. William Burges designed the High Victorian Gothic house for Sir John’s grandfather in 1869, but his extravagant medievalising interior schemes were rejected for John Diblee Crace’s more restrained decoration. Sir John and his wife Joyce drastically altered the Gothic rooms. They filled the Morning Room’s corner niches with maiolica, where it remains – entirely in keeping with Burges’s vision of incorporating colourful pottery in Knightshayes’ interiors.
Provenance
From the large collection formed in the mid-19th century by the Reverend Thomas A. Berney of Bracon Hall, Norfolk; by descent to Miss Berney, sold at Sotheby’s, London, 18 June 1946, lot 6, purchased by Sir John Heathcoat-Amory, Bt., of Knightshayes Court; the house, part of the collection, the garden Sir John and Lady Heathcoat-Amory created, and part of the estate were bequeathed to the National Trust by Sir John Heathcoat-Amory in 1972.
Marks and inscriptions
Reverse of plate: Inscribed on the reverse 'Come li Romani Sconfisere/ li Saniti sote il consulate de Valerio/ Corvino fato in botega d guido/ merlino Vedi titolivio deco/ tercia Ca XXIII'
Makers and roles
workshop of Guido di Benedetto Merlino (active 1523 –1558), potter
References
The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting (exh cat) (ed. Gervase Jackson-Stops) National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2 November 1985 - 16 March 1986, Cat. 510, p572 Rackham 1932: B. Rackham, ‘The Berney Collection of Italian Maiolica’, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 61, No. 356 (November 1932), 214, Pl. IV, B Robinson 1862: J.C. Robinson (ed.),Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Works of Art of the Mediæval, Renaissance, and More Recent Periods, On Loan at the South Kensington Museum June 1862, No. 5,299 (sic)