Cleveland Museum of Art

Charger with Arms of the Vigeri Family

Maestro Giorgio Andreoli

Date

1524

Medium

tin-glazed earthenware with gold and red lustre (maiolica)

Culture

Italy, Urbino region, Gubbio

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Italian nobles of the 1500s often expressed their wealth, social status, and sophistication by ordering large sets of maiolica that sometimes carried their coats of arms or even likenesses, usually in profile similar to portrait paintings of the period. Reserved for use at festival events such as a wedding or commissioned to mark a special occasion or an important visit, elaborately decorated utilitarian vessels in maiolica were prized as works of art by their owners and displayed as such in their residences. During the Renaissance, the powerful Vigeri family of Savona, a seaport in northwestern Italy, included numerous cardinals and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.

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