Cup
FAIENCE, Artist from the atelier of Baldassarre Manara, 1540Polichromatic painted majolica.
Recto: battle scene, with the date 1540 within a shield; verso: polichromatic motif in blue, white and yellow.
Ø 25 cm, height 6 cmItem condition grading: fair (mountings on the left rim) Striking painting on majolica, portraying naked warriors engaging in a lively battle.
The fantastic colours are reminiscent of the three panels with the Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello, one of which – namely, the one held in the Louvre – is the source for the scene portrayed on the majolica: the arrival of Captain Micheletto Attendolo di Cotignola (at the centre) on the battlefield, thanks to whom Florence ends up victorious. Cotignola being near Faience, the episode became legendary in the Romagna.
The artist proves himself well-learned, adding his own original inventions to his knowledge of both Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari and Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina: on the lower edge of the field, a striking severed head lays in a puddle of blood; upon rotating the cup, the stones become shocked faces. The armour on the ground contains the date 1540, a valuable clue to identify the atelier the cup is from: in those years, only the majolica artists from the atelier of Baldassarre Manara – a renowed maestro from Faience, working between 1526 and 1546 – were capable of such finery in colours and style as displayed in this sophisticated and challenging work.