Ask the Scholar

The decoration of this vessel, shaped like the flasks carried by travelers or pilgrims, is centered on the god Mercury carrying the beautiful young mortal woman Psyche to Mt. Olympus, home of the immortal gods, for her marriage with Cupid, god of love. The motif is adapted from an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi (ca. 1475-1530) after a wall-painting by Raphael (1483-1520) in the Villa Farnesina in Rome. This is one of the earliest signed and dated works by Francesco Xanto Avelli, one of the most original painters of maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware) and the only one who frequently signed his works. He aspired to the humanist culture of his patrons and his subject matter reflects some level of familiarity with poetry and classical literature. Indeed, several of his plates illustrate his own poems. He often depicted little-known scenes from ancient history, which he sometimes identified on the back of the plate. Like other painters of istoriato ware (decorated with stories), Xanto Avelli frequently relied on prints for compositional models. Many of those prints are after works by Raphael whose classicizing figures provided Xanto Avelli with a handsome visual vocabulary. The bottle is ornamented at each side with an inscribed cartouche, on one side: ∙F∙A∙R∙ ; on the opposite side: M∙D∙XXX. For other examples of the artist's work in the Walters Art Museum, click on his name in the "creator" field