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Dish with Marcus Curtius leaping into the chasm from the Scheuffelin service, circa 1570

Attributed to Gironimo Tomasi

Exhibited by Erik Bijzet Sculpture and Works of Art

Material Tin-glazed earthenware

Dimensions 32 × 32 cm

Place of Creation Italian, Urbino

Status Vetted

About the Work

The service to which this magnificently large and beautifully preserved dish with Marcus Curtius leaping into the chasm belongs was made for the Scheuffelin family of Nördlingen and Nuremberg in South Germany. In the sixteenth century Italian maiolica workshops enjoyed international recognition with commissions for armorial services coming from families in France and Spain as well as Germany. Most of this service is kept in German museums, apart from one dish from the C.

Drury E. Fortnum Collection, painted with King Erysichthon cutting down a tree sacred to Ceres, which is now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. The largest group remaining together are in the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Brunswick. Two dishes are in the Schlossmuseum Weimar and four further pieces are in the Goethe-Nationalmuseum, Weimar. An example previously in the Schlossmuseum in Berlin is known to have been destroyed in World War II. Another with Europa and the Bull was sold in Paris in 2011 and is seemingly the only other known dish from the group in private hands.

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Provenance

Made for a member of the Scheuffelin Family, Nuremberg and Nördlingen, circa 1570;
Alexander Barker, 103 Piccadilly, London, United Kingdom, circa 1852 until circa 1873;
From whom purchased by Sir Francis Cook, Doughty House, Richmond, United Kingdom, circa 1873 until 1901;
And thence by descent to Wyndham F. Cook, 8 Cadogan Square, London, United Kingdom, 1901 until 1905;
And thence by descent to Humphrey W. Cook, 8 Cadogan Square, London, United Kingdom, 1905 to 1925;
His sale, Christie, Manson and Woods London, Catalogue of an important collection of objects of art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the property of Humprey W. Cook, Esq., and removed from 8 Cadogan Square, S. W., being a portion of the celebrated collection formed by the late Sir Francis Cook, Bart., 7 July 1925, lot 19;
Where purchased by M. and R. Stora Gallery (Maurice and Raphael Stora), 32bis Boulevard Haussmann, Paris, France/ 670 Fifth Avenue, New York, United States, 1925;
George Durlacher of Messrs. Durlacher Brothers, 142 New Bond Street, London, United Kingdom, by 1938;
Their sale, Christie, Manson and Woods London, Catalogue of Italian Majolica, Bronzes and other objects … Sold by George Durlacher, Esq. The last surviving partner of Messrs. Durlacher Brothers, 6 April 1938, lot 10;
Where purchased by Mallett & Son, 40 New Bond Street, 6 April 1938 until 8 April 1938;
From whom purchased by J.D. Stitt Esq., 8 April 1938 (£35 and 9 shillings);
Private collection, United Kingdom;
And thence by family descent, until 2013;
Christie's London, The property of a Lady, 4 June 2013, lot 7;
Where purchased by, Prince Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Hôtel Lambert, Paris, 2013 until 2022;
His sale, Sotheby’s Paris, Hôtel Lambert, Une Collection Princière, Volume II: Kunstkammer, 12 October 2022, lot 171.

Literature

PUBLISHED
B. Rackham, Catalogue of the Art Collection, 8 Cadogan Square. Vol.1. Italian Majolica and other Pottery, London, 1903, p. 25, no. 122;
J. Lessmann, Italienische Majolika aus Goethes Besitz, cat. Klassik Stiftung Weimar/ Goethe-Nationalmuseum, Stuttgart, 2015, p. 102;
T. Wilson, Italian maiolica and Europe. Medieval, Renaissance, and later Italian pottery in the Ashmolean Museum, cat. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2017, p. 192.