Istoriato‐majolikans funktion

Abstract

Summary The Function of Istoriato‐Majolica Ceremonies of state were often celebrated with a banquet. A convention developed in Renaissance Italy whereby scholars and artists combined their talents to create an environment designed to give proper emphasis to the importance of such occasions. One way of achieving this was by decorating tables and buffets. The table‐decorations, called trionfi were generally made of sugar and the room itself would contain a display‐buffet, a credenza and possibly also abottgliera for drinking vessels. This occasional art is only sparingly documented in pictures and descriptions. Table‐decorations can sometime be deduced fairly accurately from pictures available, but illustrations of credenze are generally more difficult to interpret as they are elaborate and it is often impossible to tell whether the objects represented are majolica or made of pewter or silver. Istoriato‐majolica seems to have been made primarily for credenze but only a few sets are known to have been produced expressly for this purpose. Vasari mentions three: one, decorated with motifs from the Trojan War, was ordered by Guidobaldo 11 as a gift for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, another, showing the labours of Hercules, was ordered by the Emperor Charles V and the third, illustrating events in the life of Julius Caesar, was ordered by Philip II of Spain. The first two were made by Battista Franco of Urbino about 1545–51 and the third by Taddeo Zuccaro some twelve years later. A list of famous official banquets given during the 16th and 17th centuries shows that sets can be divided into four categories. Those connected with royal weddings and military victories rank highest, followed by those used for such annual events as royal hunts and religious feasts. If we combine this information with the way in which iconographie motifs are distributed among the remains of the so‐called Este‐Gonzaga Service, made for Isabella d'Este about 1525, and among the pieces of majolica in the collections of the National Museum in Stockholm and the Victoria & Albert Museum, some interesting points of correspondence emerge. They provide a basis for the hypothesis that certain courts possessed majolica which could be combined in different ways to produce credenze that were iconographically suitable for various occasions.