Painted with Ajax and Ulysses fighting over the arms of Achilles, the reverse inscribed di La · chonienci^one·di aiace et·uLiSe·& Le arme di ach·Le·
12 in. (30.5 cm.) diameter

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Lot Essay

The painting on the dish in the present lot is attributable to the painter sometimes known as ‘Mazo’, and sometimes as ‘The Eloquence Painter’.¹It is painted in the same style as an example inscribed ‘Mazo’ and dated 1549, which bears an allegorical scene illustrating the raising of man from bestial condition by the power of eloquence. The inscription may refer to May in the Venetian dialect, or might be a signature for the painter himself.²Wilson suggests the ‘Eloquence Painter’ may have moved to Venice from Urbino, bringing its stylistic influence with him.

1. Timothy Wilson, Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance, London 1987, no. 100.
2. For further discussion see Johanna Lessmann, Italienische Majolika, Braunschweig 1979, p. 388 and Justin Raccanello, Urbino-Venice, Italian Renaissance ceramics, Paris, 2016, p.10.