Coppa Faenza, ultimo quarto del ‘500
Majolica by fire. Height 7.5 cm; diameter 23.5 cm. Conservation: fracture with lack integrated in the ring of the foot; minimal chipping to the upper edge; insignificant felting of the glaze, , Cup with ribbed wall, modelled with shells and masks, and with umbo resting on a wide flared foot ("crespina"), On the recto, in the centre of the umbo, stands out the image of the "Madonna of the fire", with the Virgin holding the Child on her knees, seated on a crown of clouds and with the flames turning behind her. The verso is enameled. Painted in blue, blackish manganese brown and orange, , We are in the presence of a work whose rarity is concentrated on the image of the "Madonna of the Fire". The date "1575" traced on the sides of what remains of a Faentine stoup, recovered from urban excavations, with similar devotion, provides a valuable chronological element for one of the most popular devotions in the Romagna area, sufragable only by two other coeval cases: one is painted on the umbo of a "crespina" of the "quarters" type, passed on the antiquarian market, a rare association that goes beyond the devotional plaque, which not infrequently proposes such a devotion; it is an exception confirmed by another plaque in low relief, from the Forlì workshop, with the image of the Virgin raised to protect the tongues of fire surrounding it, bearing a folder with the date "1578" 3. With these dates we are already in a period in which the "whites" are a formula of great success for Faenza: therefore it is not surprising if the same Marian theme is proposed at the same time as in this case in the "compendiary" guise, as confirmed by three bowls, one from the collections of the Faenza Museum and two others, valuable not only for the presence of the coat of arms of the Gonzaga family of Novellara 4, but also for the fresh execution with a languid palette, of sophisticated pictorial rendering, which stylistically brings them close to the version of the present bowl., , 1 RAVANELLI GUIDOTTI 2004, pp. 66-70., 2 SOTHEBY'S, 1976, lot 13., 3 LEONARDI 1982, no. 29, p. 49., 4 RAVANELLI GUIDOTTI 1996, pp. 156, 1612 and 163., , Bibliography, , 1976, SOTHEBY'S, Catalogue of a fine collection of Italian maiolica, 8 April 1976, Palazzo Capponi, Florence, , 1982, LEONARDI C., La ceramica rinascimentale metaurense, catalogue of the Exhibition in Urbania, Palazzo Ducale July-October 1982, Rome 1982., , 1996, RAVANELLI GUIDOTTI C., Faenza- faïence. "Bianchi" di Faenza, Catalogue of the Faenza Exhibition, September-October 1996, Ferrara., , 2004, RAVANELLI GUIDOTTI C., Ceramiche italiane datate dal XV al XIX secolo, Museo Internazionale delle ceramiche in Faenza, catalogo generale delle raccolte volume 13, Faenza 2004., ,
