Albarello with vegetal decoration

The form of this pharmacy pot is very simple: cylindrical body, high base and ample opening with a rimmed lip, which recalls objects made of parts of bamboo cane, used as recipients[1]. The first examples of this ceramic form are from eastern Iran in the eleventh century, then Iran and Syria in the fourteenth century with pharmacy vases, exported by the hundred to Italy. The term albarello is of uncertain origin and derives from Arabic or Latin. It appears in Italian inventories from the fifteenth century to designate a perfect circular form. The decoration of the pot is simple: on a background of vegetal foliage adorned with small leaves and rosettes is a band carrying the description “BENEDICTA S.” in capital letters and a medallion in which Cupid, with a quiver, stands on clouds, an arrow in his left hand and an apple in his right. On the neck and the base of the albarello there are crossbars.

Of particular interest, because it demonstrates a relationship between Ligurian and Turkish ceramics, is the background decoration: the pattern, defined as “calligraphy à volutes”, comes from a precise stylistic production typology from the town of Iznik. The former Nicaea, located in the north-east of Anatolia, already had a tradition of ceramic production, when, on the orders of Suleiman in 1525 it became the seat of the largest manufacture of the Ottoman Empire, placed under the direct control of the sultan. The nakkashkhane (court workshop) supplied the drawings which were to be reproduced on the objects.

Aside from patterns which hark back to oriental porcelain, the decoration is made up of fine vegetal interlacings adorned with little flowers. Known as “Golden horn” following the discovery of fragments carrying this adornment in the quarter of the same name in Istanbul, this style was then referred to by the more generic expression of “spiral style” and can be found on objects dating from between 1520 an 1545 or thereabouts. More or less ample spirals, adorned with minuscule leaves and rosettes with petals rendered by little points, are traced in blue or black, with a few touches of turquoise, most often on open forms. Similar motifs appear on the elaborate monograms, sometimes illuminated with gold, known by the name of tughra which served as a signature for sultans and their edicts.

Objects of this style were imported into Italy where they were appreciated, as shown by the pitcher kept at the Museo Civico Medievale of Bologna[2], already mentioned in an inventory in 1677. For a mainly Italian clientele, Turkey also produced tondini[3], recipients known in Italy since the sixteenth century but unknown in the Orient: these small plates are characterised by deep bowl and a very wide rim.

The albarello kept at Faenza is a clear example of the class of ceramics which includes fiasche, orciuoli and bottiglie, produced in Liguria but inspired by Ottoman prototypes, example of which exist in public and private collections. From the second half of the sixteenth century we notice a progressive distancing from reference models in the way of enriching the vegetal interlacings with tendrils and rosettes, which are sometimes replaced with other elements, as on sumptuous hydrias. To finish, the Ligurian ceramicists appropriated the oriental repertory as demonstrated by the albarella examined here, the reproduced pattern of which is mastered and mixed with a western style decoration.

[2] Inv. 1305.

[3] Cf. for example in Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. D. 167.