POT, CASTELLI D'ABRUZZO, WORKSHOP OF POMPEI, 1550-1560 CIRCA made of polychrome painted maiolica with cobalt blue, copper green, yellow, orange yellow, manganese brown and tin white; on the bottom it bears the numbers 833 and 146 in dark ink and an old collection label with the number 116 printed on it; h. cm 24,5, diam. of the mouth cm 11,3, diam. foot 10.4 cm AN EWER, CASTELLI D'ABRUZZO, WORKSHOP OF POMPEI, CIRCA 1550-1560 Comparative bibliography C. de Pompeis, C. Ravanelli Guidotti, M. Ricci (ed.), Le maioliche cinquecentesche di Castelli. Una grande stagione artistica ritrovata, Pescara 1989, pp. C152-153 The jug is ovoid in shape with a wide mouth and everted rim, a high cylindrical neck from which, just below the mouth, a ribbon handle with curled terminal departs; on the front is a spout in the shape of a dragon's head, whose scales are decorated with repetitive blue and yellow-orange motifs; the spout is attached to the jug and the opening of the spout, blue in colour, emerges from the mouth of the dragon. The jug is entirely decorated on both sides with a profile portrait of a lady with her red hair tied by a handkerchief, her neck decorated with a thin necklace that descends on her breasts, which are highlighted by the wide neckline of the embroidered orange corset, which allows a glimpse of wide green sleeves. The figure is set against a blue background, framed by elements in reserve with porcelain strokes in cobalt blue on an orange background. The back of the jug is left white, while the handle has a decoration in blue with serpentine lines. Below the portraits and the spout is a cartouche bordered in yellow and shaded in blue with the inscription oglio violate in Gothic characters, indicating violet syrup, used in antiquity to treat headaches and as a digestive. The syrup jug is part of the well-known Orsini-Colonna group, a set that includes apothecary containers of various types, much studied especially after the archaeological discoveries in Castelli in the 1980s, which made it possible to attribute this group to the workshop of Orazio Pompei (1516 - 1590/1596), tracing its paternity to Abruzzo. The workshop probably produced, over the years, several series of maiolica for as many patrons, but the proximity of the portrait, the morphology and the decoration of our vase suggest that it is still linked to the first or second production group, and therefore referable to the second third of the 16th century. Numerous comparisons have been conserved in the main international museum collections, among which we recall those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. no. 41.190.72), the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (inv. no. 48.1488), the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (inv. no. c.80-1944), the National Gallery in Melbourne (inv. no. 600-D2), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. no. 2011-186-1) and the Wallace Collection in London (inv. no. C51).