Venice, workshop of Domenico da Venezia, c. 1570.

"Fiori e Frutti" decoration, foliate tendrils and scrolled decoration on cobalt blue ground. The front with female portrait in a volute cartouche, the reverse with a reserve with the title "MOSTARDA F A" between volutes and bearded male heads.

H 38 cm, D 25 cm.

Provenance: From an old Swiss private collection.


The description "Mostarda" can be found on many maiolica pieces produced in Venice in the second half of the 16th century and refers to "mostarda fina", a Venetian type of pickled fruit. The typical Venetian portraits in a yellow aureole surrounded by a volute cartusche are found primarily on apothecary jars from the workshop of Domenico da Venezia, which were obviously very popular and in high demand.

Comparable large albarelli can be found in the in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig (J. Lessmann, Italienische Majolika, Braunschweig 1979, cat. no. 782, 783, 784). Other closely related examples from the same workshop can be found in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (B. Rackham, cat. no. 979) and in the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg (Inv. No. 1878. 707).