Plaque
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: Master of the Bergantini Bowl
- Made in: Faenza
- Date: 1527
- Object type: plaque
- Materials: earthenware
- Museum number: 1855,1201.78
- 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
In front of you is a small but richly decorated plaque made out of earthenware. The front is covered in a beautiful tin-glaze that gives it a blue-gray sheen, while the back and sides remain unglazed. At the center, you'll notice a scene from the Adoration of the Magi—three wise men, attendants, and animals like camels form a vivid and detailed scene. Above, two angels float in the sky.
Look closely at the lower left and you'll see a tablet with the year 1527 painted on it, along with a symbol resembling an inflatable ball, a mark found on several similar artworks. This plaque is connected to a group of others painted in the same style, from the same workshop and time period.
Scholars have attributed this work to the "Master of the Bergantini Bowl," a name given to an anonymous artist linked to a prominent 16th-century workshop in Faenza.
See it in person
Plaque 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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