Montelupo cup, last quarter of the 16th century... Lot 15

Montelupo cup, last quarter of the 16th century Majolica. Dimensions: height 8.5@@@ diameter 32 cm. Conservation: very good@@@ small jumps of glaze at edges. Cup kissed and umbonate ("crespina"), on tall flared foot. On the recto, in the center of a medallion bordered by a circle of pearls and corresponding in diameter to the umbo, is a standing figurine of St. John the Baptist, with a barely hinted mountainous landscape on the horizon. Around it, on the remaining surface, is a symmetrical decoration alternating triangles and ovals, of the kind known as "embroidery." On the reverse, the lunar crescent mark is painted in the center of the foot, while short brush strokes and threading are noted toward the edge. Painted in orange, blue, and yellow. We are dealing with one of the most successful essays of the family of "whites," painted in the "compendiary style," of Montelupo majolica. The work is the result of 'direct influence of artisans of Faenza origin, who moved to the Valdarno in the first decades of the sixteenth century. It can therefore come as no surprise that works of this refined workmanship, both in the "abborchiata" style and in the synthetic ductus, find correspondence in the Montelupese workshops, with manifest descent from the most classic and unmistakable of the innovations of Italian majolica, particularly from Faenza, the so-called "whites." Their production in Montelupo can be aided by significant evidence both territorial and in the lunar crescent marking, which, through the analysis of urban finds, is dated from 1570 to 1630 (1) 1) BERTI F., Storia della ceramica di Montelupo, vol. II, 1998, pp. 196- 199, Figs. 305-317