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Description sent to Mr. Robert G. Blumenthal with the plate.




[[underlined]]"CASTELLI" PLATE[[/underlined]]
(5154)


A Majolica plate of Castelli make, Italian work of the Seventeenth Century.  It shows a landscape and figures in the center, while on the rim, in a decoration of scrolls, flowers, cherubs and animals, a Coat-of-Arms is inserted.  This Coat-of-Arms, crowned by a Cardinal's hat, might be that of the COLONNA family.

Castelli was built on the site of the ancient city of Atrium, in the Southern part of the Abruzze Mountains, North of Naples.  Though we know that this city was known for its extensive ceramic industry from the earliest times, it was only in the latter part of the Sixteenth, through the Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries, that its earthenware was of particular repute.

From computation of dates, we can reasonably assume that this plate was the work of Francesco GRUE, one of the leading artists of Castelli.

Former Collection of Mrs. Milbank, London.

Diameter, 11-3/4".






December 1936.