Gourd
Dateca. 1640
MediumFaience (tin-glazed earthenware)
Dimensions17 1/4 × 11 1/2 × 7 3/8 in. (43.8 × 29.2 × 18.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Sidney R. Knafel, 2022
Accession number2022.17.09
CommentaryThis gourd demonstrates the lasting influence of Italian models on the Nevers production, as well as the popularity in France of ceramics made in Italy seventy years earlier. It is decorated with a colorful istoriato representing Jupiter transformed into a satyr and approaching Antiope (on the front) and two satyrs (on the back). Its distinctive shape with two handles in the form of grotesque heads also followed Renaissance Italian maiolica produced in Urbino about 1560.
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