Attributed to Giovanni della Robbia (1469 - 1529)
Attributed to Giovanni della Robbia (1469 - 1529)
Florence, circa 1520
Quince
glazed terracotta
with a label to the underside numbered 555
12.3cm., 4⅞in. high
12cm., 4¾in. diameter
Catalogue Note:
Flowers and fruit abound in the works of the Della Robbia family, a dynasty of sculptors and ceramists who mastered the technique of glazed terracotta in Florence during the Quattrocento and Cinquecento. These natural products feature not only in the spectacular frames that surround their tondos and reliefs, but also, occasionally, in independent compositions such as baskets of provisions or individual pieces of fruit
Since ancient times, Pliny the Elder has attributed numerous medicinal properties to the quince and praised its fragrance. Jeremy Warren (op. cit., p. 413) also highlights the fruit’s association with Venus, who received a quince from Paris rather than an apple. By extension, the quince became a symbol of love and a gift with deep symbolic significance. Furthermore, Warren points out that the custom of newlyweds sharing a quince - already mentioned in Plutarch’s Roman Questions at the end of the 1st century AD (Quaestiones Romanae, 65) - was still practised during the Italian Renaissance.
Our quince (mela cognata) can be linked to a relatively small group of fruits attributed to the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529) made in the 1520s. Notable examples include an apple, a lemon and a quince held at the Casa Museo Rodolfo Siviero (Florence, inv. L. 41/1986), as well as a citron and an apple at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (inv. WA1888.CDEF.S19 and WA1888.CDEF.S20). Finally, note that a lemon was sold by Sotheby’s New York on 1 June 1991 (lot 162).
RELATED LITERATURE
G. Gentilini, I Della Robbia et l'arte nuova della scultura invetriata, cat. exp. Fiesole, Basilica di Sant'Alessandro, 29 May - 1 November 1998, pp.280-281, cat.23 a-c.;
G. Gentilini, Della Robbia : la scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento, Florence, 1992, pp. 282;
J. Warren, Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, cat. Ashmolean museum, Oxford, vol. II, pp. 411-414, cat. 104-105.
Attributed to Giovanni della Robbia (1469 - 1529)
Florence, circa 1520
Quince
glazed terracotta
with a label to the underside numbered 555
12.3cm., 4⅞in. high
12cm., 4¾in. diameter
Catalogue Note:
Flowers and fruit abound in the works of the Della Robbia family, a dynasty of sculptors and ceramists who mastered the technique of glazed terracotta in Florence during the Quattrocento and Cinquecento. These natural products feature not only in the spectacular frames that surround their tondos and reliefs, but also, occasionally, in independent compositions such as baskets of provisions or individual pieces of fruit
Since ancient times, Pliny the Elder has attributed numerous medicinal properties to the quince and praised its fragrance. Jeremy Warren (op. cit., p. 413) also highlights the fruit’s association with Venus, who received a quince from Paris rather than an apple. By extension, the quince became a symbol of love and a gift with deep symbolic significance. Furthermore, Warren points out that the custom of newlyweds sharing a quince - already mentioned in Plutarch’s Roman Questions at the end of the 1st century AD (Quaestiones Romanae, 65) - was still practised during the Italian Renaissance.
Our quince (mela cognata) can be linked to a relatively small group of fruits attributed to the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529) made in the 1520s. Notable examples include an apple, a lemon and a quince held at the Casa Museo Rodolfo Siviero (Florence, inv. L. 41/1986), as well as a citron and an apple at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (inv. WA1888.CDEF.S19 and WA1888.CDEF.S20). Finally, note that a lemon was sold by Sotheby’s New York on 1 June 1991 (lot 162).
RELATED LITERATURE
G. Gentilini, I Della Robbia et l'arte nuova della scultura invetriata, cat. exp. Fiesole, Basilica di Sant'Alessandro, 29 May - 1 November 1998, pp.280-281, cat.23 a-c.;
G. Gentilini, Della Robbia : la scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento, Florence, 1992, pp. 282;
J. Warren, Sculptures in Stone, Clay, Ivory, Bone and Wood, cat. Ashmolean museum, Oxford, vol. II, pp. 411-414, cat. 104-105.
