Earthenware oval platter
URBANIA, sculptor Tomasso Amantini, half / third quarter 17th centuryEarthenware oval platter with high relief of the Holy Family; 19th century octagonal frame reading “Tomaso Amantini 1600 anno fece” (Tomaso Amantini made this in 1600).
Recto: the Virgin holding the Holy Child, with St. Anna on her left, St. Joseph on her right and three angels over her head; verso: pre-firing etching ““Tomasso Amantini / d’Vrbania F 1600 / ne largila (the date has been etched post-firing).
Earthenware: 13 x 14 cm; height 3 cm; frame 31.5 x 29.5 cmItem condition grating: excellent (a slightly noticeable flaw in the biscuit on the verso).One of the few earthenwares by sculptor Tomasso Amantini (Urbania, 1625 – 1675), who worked most notably in plaster, this small oval platter portraying the Holy Family is likely the first piece of the Nativity series that Amantini had been tasked with creating by the Company of the Holy Cross in Urbino but died before completing. The sculptor’s signature on the recto (added in the 19th century with the date 1600, to identify the century the work was created in) increases its value.