Plaque with the Holy Family
CultureItalian
OriginFaenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
PeriodItalian Renaissance
Datec.1530-1550
MediumMaiolica, tin glaze, lead glaze, and hand-built.
DimensionsOverall: 27.4 x 20 cm (10 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
MarkingsNone
DescriptionThis plaque features the Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist enthroned and surrounded by Saint Paul, Saint John, Saint Augustine, and Saint Magdalene. This sacra conversazione, or holy conversation, is set in architectural surroundings. The composition of the figure group merges two known sources. The central trio is based on Andrea del Sarto’s lost Madonna di Porta Pinti of c. 1521, a lost fresco only known through copies. The four saints surrounding the throne are based on an engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi after Raphael’s Saint Cecilia Altarpiece in Bologna (commissioned by Elena d’Oglio in 1514). The maiolica painter only included the four saints surrounding Saint Cecilia, omitting the latter’s image.
This plaque was donated to the Gardiner Museum by George and Helen Gardiner. The Gardiners acquired the piece from ceramics dealer Kate Foster in London in 1981. Forty years prior, it had been part of the vast collection of Renaissance Art assembled by Jewish collector Dr. Alfred Pringsheim (1850-1941), a professor of mathematics at the University of Munich (see the full history of ownership below). Heir to a great fortune and a leading collector of the time, his home stood at the centre of Munich’s cultural life. With 440 pieces, his collection of Italian Renaissance maiolica then represented the largest collection in Germany.
In 1933, as the National Socialists took power, Jewish families in Munich faced persecution. That year, Pringsheim was forced to sell his great house to the Nazis. In November 1938, the Gestapo seized their art collections, including a notable collection of German Renaissance silver, paintings, clocks, and bronzes. The maiolica collection was earmarked by the Nazi’s for a sale to be held in London in order to raise foreign currency. Pringsheim was thus forced to forge an agreement with the German State and to consent to receiving only 40% of the proceeds of the sale. In exchange, Alfred Pringsheim and his wife Hedwig Dohm were allowed to immigrate to Switzerland.
The collection was sold in two sales at Sotheby’s, London, in June and July 1939. As the market for maiolica was at an historic low, the profits realized were disappointing and Alfred Pringsheim only received 15% of the value of the sale. In October of that year, the Pringsheim couple immigrated to Switzerland, their five adult children having already left the country. Alfred Pringsheim died in 1941, and Hedwig Dohm the following year.
After the war, the Pringsheim children claimed compensation from the German State for the silver and maiolica collections. In 1946, they obtained restitution of the silver collection, which had been transferred to the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich in 1941. By contrast to the silver, the maiolica was then scattered across European and American collections. In 1955, following a settlement agreement with the German government, the heirs received restitution of the proceeds from the sale paid to the Reichsbank following the 1939 sale.
Provenance: Friedrich Spitzer Collection; Sold April 17 - June 16 1893, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris, no.1108 / Collection of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim, Munich; Sold June 7, 1939, Sotheby's & Co. London, UK ( Catalogue of the renowned collection of Italian majolica, the property of Dr Alfred Pringsheim of Munich), lot 64 / Collection E.L. Paget, London; Sold Sotheby's, 11 October 1949 (Catalogue of the well-known collections of fine Italian bronzes, majolica and European ceramics..the property of the late E.L. Paget Esq.), lot. 58 / Fernand Adda Collection, Egypt; Possibly sold Palais Galliéra, Paris, December 3, 1965 to Cyril Humphris, London / Sold by Cyril Humphris, London, 1967 / 1967-1981: no known ownership information/ Sold by Kate Foster, London, May 19, 1981, to George and Helen Gardiner / Collection of George R. and Helen Gardiner
References: Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, vol. 2(Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1914), no. 208; Catalogue of the Renowned Collection of Italian Majolica, The Property of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim of Munich, Sotheby & Co., London, June 7, 1939, lot. 64; Bernard Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica (Faber and Faber, 1959), no. 302, plate 133a; 69 pieces of Islamic pottery and Italian maiolica from the Adda Collection (London: Cyril Humphris Ltd, 1967), no.28; Von Falke, Otto. Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim / Le maioliche italiane della collezione Pringsheim. Revised and augmented edition with an introduction by Timothy Wilson (Ferrara: Belriguardo Arte, 1994).
Other sources on the Pringsheim Collection: Seeling, Lorenz. “The Art Collection of Alfred Pringsheim,” Journal of the History of Collections 29, no. 1 (2016): 161–180; Bilski, Emily D. “The Lives of Objects beyond Ownership: The Meaning of Provenance,” IASL 46, no. 1 (2021) 300–321; Bilski, Emily D.. “A Conversation across Time and Space: Maiolica in the Collections of Isabella d’Este, Alfred Pringsheim and Robert Lehman,” in Collecting and Provenance, edited by Andrea M. Gáldy, Ronit Sorek, Netta Assaf and Gal Ventura (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021), 134-151.
This plaque was donated to the Gardiner Museum by George and Helen Gardiner. The Gardiners acquired the piece from ceramics dealer Kate Foster in London in 1981. Forty years prior, it had been part of the vast collection of Renaissance Art assembled by Jewish collector Dr. Alfred Pringsheim (1850-1941), a professor of mathematics at the University of Munich (see the full history of ownership below). Heir to a great fortune and a leading collector of the time, his home stood at the centre of Munich’s cultural life. With 440 pieces, his collection of Italian Renaissance maiolica then represented the largest collection in Germany.
In 1933, as the National Socialists took power, Jewish families in Munich faced persecution. That year, Pringsheim was forced to sell his great house to the Nazis. In November 1938, the Gestapo seized their art collections, including a notable collection of German Renaissance silver, paintings, clocks, and bronzes. The maiolica collection was earmarked by the Nazi’s for a sale to be held in London in order to raise foreign currency. Pringsheim was thus forced to forge an agreement with the German State and to consent to receiving only 40% of the proceeds of the sale. In exchange, Alfred Pringsheim and his wife Hedwig Dohm were allowed to immigrate to Switzerland.
The collection was sold in two sales at Sotheby’s, London, in June and July 1939. As the market for maiolica was at an historic low, the profits realized were disappointing and Alfred Pringsheim only received 15% of the value of the sale. In October of that year, the Pringsheim couple immigrated to Switzerland, their five adult children having already left the country. Alfred Pringsheim died in 1941, and Hedwig Dohm the following year.
After the war, the Pringsheim children claimed compensation from the German State for the silver and maiolica collections. In 1946, they obtained restitution of the silver collection, which had been transferred to the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich in 1941. By contrast to the silver, the maiolica was then scattered across European and American collections. In 1955, following a settlement agreement with the German government, the heirs received restitution of the proceeds from the sale paid to the Reichsbank following the 1939 sale.
Provenance: Friedrich Spitzer Collection; Sold April 17 - June 16 1893, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris, no.1108 / Collection of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim, Munich; Sold June 7, 1939, Sotheby's & Co. London, UK ( Catalogue of the renowned collection of Italian majolica, the property of Dr Alfred Pringsheim of Munich), lot 64 / Collection E.L. Paget, London; Sold Sotheby's, 11 October 1949 (Catalogue of the well-known collections of fine Italian bronzes, majolica and European ceramics..the property of the late E.L. Paget Esq.), lot. 58 / Fernand Adda Collection, Egypt; Possibly sold Palais Galliéra, Paris, December 3, 1965 to Cyril Humphris, London / Sold by Cyril Humphris, London, 1967 / 1967-1981: no known ownership information/ Sold by Kate Foster, London, May 19, 1981, to George and Helen Gardiner / Collection of George R. and Helen Gardiner
References: Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, vol. 2(Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1914), no. 208; Catalogue of the Renowned Collection of Italian Majolica, The Property of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim of Munich, Sotheby & Co., London, June 7, 1939, lot. 64; Bernard Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica (Faber and Faber, 1959), no. 302, plate 133a; 69 pieces of Islamic pottery and Italian maiolica from the Adda Collection (London: Cyril Humphris Ltd, 1967), no.28; Von Falke, Otto. Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim / Le maioliche italiane della collezione Pringsheim. Revised and augmented edition with an introduction by Timothy Wilson (Ferrara: Belriguardo Arte, 1994).
Other sources on the Pringsheim Collection: Seeling, Lorenz. “The Art Collection of Alfred Pringsheim,” Journal of the History of Collections 29, no. 1 (2016): 161–180; Bilski, Emily D. “The Lives of Objects beyond Ownership: The Meaning of Provenance,” IASL 46, no. 1 (2021) 300–321; Bilski, Emily D.. “A Conversation across Time and Space: Maiolica in the Collections of Isabella d’Este, Alfred Pringsheim and Robert Lehman,” in Collecting and Provenance, edited by Andrea M. Gáldy, Ronit Sorek, Netta Assaf and Gal Ventura (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021), 134-151.
Credit LineGift of George and Helen Gardiner
Object numberG83.1.350
Classifications
European CeramicsSub-classification
Italian Earthenware - MaiolicaStatus
On view
Artist / Maker: Casa Pirota Workshop
1537
Object number: G83.1.351
Artist / Maker: Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory
1796-1799
Object number: G19.10.6.1-4
Artist / Maker: Meissen Porcelain Manufactory
c.1720; decorated in Augsburg, c.1730
Object number: G83.1.711
