Stemmed Cup with Two Handles
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1906.
Paper label on bottom inscribed: "Deruta cup. Decorated in the Gubbio manufacture 16th Century." An illegible inscription in Italian?: "latuade de l'eteseul".
This stemmed cup bears the scale ornamentation characteristic of pottery from Deruta, a town in the central Italian region of Umbria, famous for its production of majolica from the Renaissance to the present. The light-colored earthenware is covered with opaque lead glaze, here set off by brilliant copper luster borders. Inside the cup, the artist has painted Greek deities of fertility, Artemis, Demeter, and Triptolemus, with their serpent attendants, a delightful surprise awaiting the user when the contents of the cup were drained.