Unknown
Charger with Armorial Shieldcirca 1510

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Charger with Armorial Shield
Place Made: Italy, Deruta
Date Made: circa 1510
Medium: Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Dimensions: Diameter: 16 1/4 in. (41.28 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.9.25
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: A monumental display plate (piatto da pompa) painted with one’s coat of arms was a sure way to proclaim a family’s social status. Such plates were commissioned either by or for prominent families, sometimes as diplomatic gifts or perhaps to commemorate an engagement, marriage, or birth. Few show signs of wear from everyday use, and many have holes pierced through the foot ring that allowed them to be suspended and hung on the wall. Although functional, plates like this were more about decoration and display than usefulness. This charger was made in Deruta, where the use of copper luster glazes on dishes with a broad border was especially popular. The family whose coat of arms fills the center has not yet been identified.
Selected Bibliography: Hess, Catherine. The Arts of Fire: Islamic Influences on Glass and Ceramics of the Italian Renaissance. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2004.

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 2

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Charger with Armorial Shield
Place Made: Italy, Deruta
Date Made: circa 1510
Medium: Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Dimensions: Diameter: 16 1/4 in. (41.28 cm)
Credit Line: William Randolph Hearst Collection
Accession Number: 50.9.25
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Decorative Arts and Design
Curatorial Notes: A monumental display plate (piatto da pompa) painted with one’s coat of arms was a sure way to proclaim a family’s social status. Such plates were commissioned either by or for prominent families, sometimes as diplomatic gifts or perhaps to commemorate an engagement, marriage, or birth. Few show signs of wear from everyday use, and many have holes pierced through the foot ring that allowed them to be suspended and hung on the wall. Although functional, plates like this were more about decoration and display than usefulness. This charger was made in Deruta, where the use of copper luster glazes on dishes with a broad border was especially popular. The family whose coat of arms fills the center has not yet been identified.
Selected Bibliography: Hess, Catherine. The Arts of Fire: Islamic Influences on Glass and Ceramics of the Italian Renaissance. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Trust, 2004.