This sizable altarpiece—framed by clusters of fruit, flowers, and wheat set between inner and outer egg-and-dart moldings—is crafted entirely in polychrome terracotta. The altarpiece illustrates the Nativity. Saint Joseph sits pensively at the left, a staff and sack at his feet. At the center, in a brick stable with thatched roof, the Virgin kneels before the infant Christ resting in a wicker basket. Two animals observe the scene, while angels appear on a cloud above. The Annunciation to the Shepherds is represented in the distant landscape on the right, and two shepherds approach with offerings. Below, predella panels feature imagery linked to the work’s patron, Abbot Leonardo di Giovanni Buonafede: his patron saints, Leonard and Benedict, and his coats of arms. Archival records document that Buonafede commissioned several glazed terracotta sculptures from the Buglioni workshop.
Polychrome terracotta gained prominence in fifteenth-century Florence through the workshop of Luca and Andrea della Robbia (47.8.1a). Their prolific output spurred the growth of other studios, and by the sixteenth century, the Buglioni workshop, managed by cousins Benedetto and Santi, was producing numerous terracotta objects in Florence and beyond. Unlike materials such as marble, terracotta offered an affordable, durable, and vividly colored alternative, making it an ideal medium for the mass production of devotional imagery. Manufactured in sections, the terracotta pieces could be easily transported from Florence to other locations and reassembled upon arrival.
2024
