Plate

A plate with a diameter of 43 cm, like the one we have the pleasure of offering you today, was rarely intended for daily use. Known as parade plates, these artifacts primarily served an exhibition function. Of great quality, reflected in the excellence of its craftsmanship, they were displayed or gifted to be prominently showcased, admired by guests, and to attest to the family's prestige and wealth. Crafted from polychrome maiolica, from Savona or Albisola, dating to the third decade of the 18th century, this plate reveals a strong connection to the decorative painting of Giovanni Agostino Ratti (Savona 1699-1775), an interpreter of the Ligurian ceramic tradition. The scene depicted in the center of the concave well features two walking figures. A female figure, identifiable as the Allegory of Painting, holds a painter's palette and some brushes, her iconographic attributes. Beside her stands a male figure, a smartly dressed soldier, wearing an anatomical cuirass and a plumed helmet, while holding a large shield with his left hand. Above the two protagonists, two fluttering putti animate the composition. This iconography refers not so much to a narrative episode of mythological character but rather to an allegorical composition, namely Painting protected by Arms, understood as a celebration of patronage and the protection afforded to the figurative arts. The comparison with Ratti's production is evident in the execution of the figures, in the decorative scenic design characterized by the presence of monumental ruined arches, floral tendrils, the unmistakable features of corpulent flying butterflies, as well as tree trunks extending from the plate's rim. These figurative elements indeed constitute recurring and distinctive motifs of Giovanni Agostino Ratti's ornamental language. The figurative elements, in terms of style, quality of drawing, and type of polychromy, with the use of cobalt blue, yellow/orange, and green, as well as documented comparisons in the volume "Giovanni Agostino Ratti, pittore incisore ceramista" by G. Buscaglia (2004), allow the decoration of this magnificent plate to be attributed to the hand of master Ratti. On the reverse is the extremely rare S.A.C. manufactory mark, reproduced in no. 302 of the "initials and uncertain" section of the volume "La maiolica antica Ligure" by G. Morazzoni (1951, Ed. Luigi Alfieri Milan). A rare example of a parade maiolica capable of testifying to the high level reached by the decorators and manufactories of Ligurian maiolica. Dimensions: diameter 43 cm