C9: Maiolica dish: King Shishak plundering the Temple of Jerusalem
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© The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
| Museum number | C9 |
| Title | Maiolica dish: King Shishak plundering the Temple of Jerusalem |
| Object type | In category: Ceramics » Dish |
| Date | Circa 1550 |
| People |
Studio of Francesco Durantino - Pottery painter(s) |
| Place of origin | Europe » Southern Europe » Italy » Central Italy » Marche » Urbino |
| Condition |
Good |
| Dimensions |
24.8 cm diameter |
| Materials & techniques |
In category:
Ceramic
»
Pottery
»
Earthenware
»
Tin-glazed earthenware
»
Maiolica
|
| Description | Circular istoriato maiolica dish with foot on reverse and thin rim. Showing King Shishak plundering the Temple of Jerusalem. Green, yellow, blue, black, brown, white oxides. | ||||||
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Style |
Renaissance
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| Subject |
Allegory History Landscape Religion |
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| Notes | The back of the dish is inscribed: I re è digitto spoglia il lepio santo [The king of Egypt plunders the Holy Temple]. This referrs to the Old Testament story of Shishak’s plundering of the Holy temple of Jerusalem. The composition is derived from a woodcut by Hans Sebald-Beham in in the Biblisch Historien, a German picture book featuring engraved Biblical stories, printed in Frankfurt in several editions between 1533 to 1557. These books were commonly used by maiolica painters, particularly in the famed workshop of Guido Durantino in Urbino. This is one of three known dishes painted with the same subject after Selbald-Beham’s woodcut. This dish is adheres most faithfully to the original woodcut. Nevertheless, the artist showed some inventive ability in his rendering of the print. The maiolica painter has added further figures including a grey-haired man dressed in purple on the far right. This may be King Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon and leader of the threatened Southern Kingdom of Judah. |
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| Literature |
Rudolf E A Drey, 'An Unpublished Istoriato Maiolica Dish Derived From a Woodcut by Hans Sebald Beham', The Burlington Magazine vol. 132, no. 1046 (May, 1990) pp.344-346 Luke Syson and Dora Thornton, Objects of Virtue: Art in Renaissance Italy, (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum: 2001. Illustrated, p.288.) |
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| Muse theme | The Art of Collecting |
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| Muse chapter |
The History of the Holburne Collection » The Collection » Ceramics
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| Gallery Label |
This finely-painted dish depicts the Egyptian King Shishak plundering the Temple of Jerusalem. The Pharaoh, mounted on horseback, leads his army to the Holy City after invading Judah and Israel. Shishak’s army, made up of Libyan, Sukkites and Cushite troops can be seen pillaging the famed Ark of the Covenant and shields of King Solomon. The figure on the far right, clothed in purple and protesting, could be Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon who reigned over the threatened Kingdom. The story would have served as a sixteenth-century moralising tale, with Shishak’s plundering seen as Divine punishment for the Kingdom of Israel’s decadence. This plate is one of three known maiolica dishes derived from a mid 16th-century design by the German print-maker Hans Sebald Beham. All three dishes have been attributed to the Urbino workshop of Guido Durantino, one of the most famous potters of the Renaissance. With its fine workmanship and careful colouring, this dish reveals the level of skill that could be achieved by maiolica painters. Furthermore, details not found on the original print, including intricate shrubbery and a delicately-shaded sky, reveal efforts to embelish, as well as emulate existing designs. |
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| Places associated with the object |
Europe » Northern Europe » Germany » Germany
Europe » Southern Europe » Italy » Central Italy » Marche » Urbino |
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| Provenance | Sir Thomas William Holburne (1793-1874); by whom bequeathed to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882), by whom bequeathed to the Museum |
