Maiolica dish: The Departure of Ceyx

Italian

Ashmolean Museum

circa 1498

This dish is one of the first maiolica dishes to be painted in the istoriato (narrative) style. The dish portrays a scene from Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 11, in which King Ceyx ignores the pleas of his wife Alcyone and sets out on a voyage on which he will be drowned. It is set within an elaborate border featuring putti, fruit and flowers, vases, and cornucopias.

• Medium: tin glazed earthenware
• Dimensions: diameter: 29cm
• Art Fund Grant: £22500
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Marquess of Cholmondeley

Provenance

Baron Gustave de Rothschild, Paris by 1865; by descent.

Add your comments about this artwork Hide this form

Have your say