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Source Description
During the Italian Renaissance of the 1400s and 1500s, nobles and merchants eager to express their wealth and sophistication ordered ceramics for dining, display, and storage. Known as<em> maiolica,</em> because it resembled the brightly colored ceramics from the Mediterranean island of Majorca, these ceramic vessels were covered with a tin glaze that provided an opaque white surface on which colorful decoration could be painted.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
124130
label
Pair of Saltcellars
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
124130
contentType
object
title
Pair of Saltcellars
description
During the Italian Renaissance of the 1400s and 1500s, nobles and merchants eager to express their wealth and sophistication ordered ceramics for dining, display, and storage. Known as<em> maiolica,</em> because it resembled the brightly colored ceramics from the Mediterranean island of Majorca, these ceramic vessels were covered with a tin glaze that provided an opaque white surface on which colorful decoration could be painted.
date
c. 1570–90
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60759954
creators
386654
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 20.3 x 21 x 12.8 cm (8 x 8 1/4 x 5 1/16 in.)
cul
Italy, Urbino, 16th century
accession
1945.126
Source extras
tec
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
tombstone
Pair of Saltcellars, c. 1570–90. Circle of the Patanazzi Family (Italian). Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica); overall: 20.3 x 21 x 12.8 cm (8 x 8 1/4 x 5 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Philip R. Mather, 1945.126
collection
Decorative Arts
didYouKnow
During the Renaissance, salt was an expensive commodity and was used to both season and preserve food.
citations
citation
Foote, Helen S. “Gifts to the Majolica Collection.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 33, no. 4 (April 1946): 36–38.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 36-7
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25141269
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. T<em>he World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 48, fig. 50
creditline
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Philip R. Mather
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:24:00.769000
sourceId
124130
dept
Decorative Art and Design
coll
Decorative Arts
med
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
bd3e69e0ca6061cb