Plate
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: Vulcan painter
- Made in: Tuscany (?); Cafaggiolo (?)
- Date: 1510-1513 (circa)
- Object type: plate, dish
- Materials: earthenware
- Museum number: 1855,1201.66
- 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.
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About this object
Before you is a vibrant plate painted in the early 1500s, attributed to an artist known as the Vulcan painter. Both sides are covered with a tin glaze and colorful painted decoration. On the front, a satyr with a goat-like lower body plays a pipe for a reclining, semi-naked woman holding a child. Behind them stretches a landscape filled with trees and a distant town.
This scene is inspired by a print by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, and the story has roots in ancient Greek and Roman texts. The reverse of the plate features a stylized decorative border in blue and red. Notably, it was pierced so it could be hung as wall art.
The dish is a fine example of Renaissance maiolica—ceramics made in central Italy, often painted with lively classical scenes. The Vulcan painter is a mysterious figure whose bold pigments and skilled hand set his work apart. Though little is known of him, this plate reflects the exchange of artistic ideas between northern Europe and Italy in the 16th century.
See it in person
Plate 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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