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Apple or quince

Della Robbia Workshop of, possibly

Florence, c. 1500 - 1520

24 cm (length); cm (length)

tin-glazed terracotta

The purpose of these fruit sculptures is uncertain. Complex compositions of fruit and vegetables were used as surrounds for sculptural compositions in the Della Robbia workshop over a considerable period of time. Technically, Della Robbia wares are earthenware covered with coloured tin-opacified glazes. The identification of the fruit is debated.

Bibliography: Fortnum, Manuscript Catalogue of Varia, p. 65.

cf G.C. Gentilini, I della Robbia: la scultura invetriata nel Rinascimento I (Florence, c1993), p. 221.

J. Warren, “Fortnum and the Della Robbia”, Apollo 145 (1997), p. 57.

cf G. Bocchi and G. Asioli Martini, Fruges. Frutta dipinta su tela e maiolica dal XVI al XVIII secolo (exhib. cat., Imola, 2005), tav. I.

cf G.C. Gentilini ed., I Della Robbia e "l'arte nuova" della scultura invetriata (exhib. cat. Fiescole, 1998), p. 280.

Presented by C. D. E. Fortnum, 1888. WA1888.CDEF.S20