Dish
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: CI
- Made in: Faenza
- Date: 1515-1525 (circa)
- Object type: dish, bowl
- Materials: earthenware
- Museum number: 1855,1201.83
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a beautifully painted dish from the early 16th century. It was made in Faenza, a well-known center for fine ceramics in Renaissance Italy. This shallow dish is made of earthenware and coated with a tin glaze that gives it a smooth, pale surface.
The central scene shows a moment of confrontation and negotiation. In the foreground, a man on a plinth places his foot on the head of a bound figure, suggesting a scene from an historical or biblical narrative. Scholars have debated whether it depicts Caesar and Ariovistus or Fabius Maximus and Hannibal. Around them, other figures stand in a landscape near a castle or town.
The reverse of the dish is covered with a scale-like decorative pattern, a common feature in ceramics of this period. The painting is based on a fresco by Girolamo Genga, an influential artist of the time. This dish and others like it were likely painted by a master working in a prominent workshop known as the Casa Pirota. The style is delicate, with a rich use of color and attention to facial expressions that bring the scene to life.
See it in person
Dish is on display in Room 46 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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