Dish depicting The Death of Saul
ca. 1575–80
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain decorated in underglaze blue
Dimensions
Overall, irregular diameter (confirmed): 2 1/4 × 13 3/16 × 13 1/8 in. (5.7 × 33.5 × 33.3 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
Italian, Florence
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Samuel D. Lee Fund, 1941
Accession Number
41.49.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite dish, titled *The Death of Saul*,ails from the Medici Porcelain Manuf in Florence, Italy, 1575–80. under the patronage of Grand Duke Francesco I de', it exemplifies one of Europe's earliest attempts to rival Chinese porcelain. The manufactory, a short-lived Renaissance innovation (1575–), crafted soft-paste porcelain—a mixture of ground glass, clay, and other materials fired at lower temperatures than true hard-paste porcelain. Here, the surface is vibrantly decorated in undergl blue, a technique that embeds cobalt pigment beneath a transparent glaze for enduring color and subtl...