Basin
about 1450–75
Object PlaceValencia, Spain
Medium/TechniqueTin-glazed earthenware with cobalt and copper luster decoration
DimensionsOverall: 47.7 x 12.7 cm (18 3/4 x 5 in.)
weight = 8.5 lbs
weight = 8.5 lbs
Credit LineAnonymous gift
Accession number1992.397
On View
On viewClassificationsCeramics
Collections
ProvenanceBy 1855, Alexander von Minutoli (b. 1806 - d. 1887), Liegnitz, Germany [see note 1]; 1862, sold by Minutoli to the Königlich Preussische Kunstkammer, Berlin [see note 2]; 1875, transferred to the Schlossmuseum, Berlin (inventory no. K 1687); 1936, deaccessioned and exchanged by the Schlossmuseum with J. Rosenbaum (dealer), Frankfurt [see note 3]. Possibly sold by Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co., New York to William Randolph Hearst (b. 1863 – d. 1951), New York [see note 4]; April 30, 1941, Hearst sale, Hammer Galleries at Gimbel Bros., New York, lot 1321-2, possibly to Nicolas and Paula de Koenigsberg, New York [see note 5]. By 1966, estate of an anonymous collector [see note 6]; 1992, anonymous gift to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 23, 1992)
NOTES:
[1] Minutoli assembled photographs of his collection, housed at the Museum Minutoli, in several volumes beginning in 1855. This basin is visible in a photograph of the maiolica collection in volume 2, plate 98. See Margaret Dorothea Minkels, Alexander von Minutoli: der Gründer des 1. Kunstgewerbemuseums der Welt (1844) (Norderstadt, [2018]), p. 360, ill. 25.
[2] On this sale, see Minkels 2018 (as above, note 1), pp. 459-460.
[3] Information kindly provided by Sven Haase and Manuela Krüger of the Staatliche Museen Berlin.
[4] Hearst owned three Valencian basins from the collection of the Schlossmuseum, Berlin. One was included in his posthumous sale held at Parke-Bernet Galleries in 1951, and was said to come from Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co. No provenance for the present basin is given in the 1941 sale catalogue, but the three may have been purchased together.
[5] The third basin that belonged to the Schlossmuseum and Hearst was likewise in the 1941 sale at Gimbel Bros., and was acquired by the same private collector who owned the MFA object. It was publicly sold with in 1979 with Paula de Koenigsberg's name in the provenance. Koenigsberg and her husband were dealers who purchased a number of works of art from the Hearst sale.
[5] This object was first lent to the MFA in 1966; the collector had passed away in 1965.
NOTES:
[1] Minutoli assembled photographs of his collection, housed at the Museum Minutoli, in several volumes beginning in 1855. This basin is visible in a photograph of the maiolica collection in volume 2, plate 98. See Margaret Dorothea Minkels, Alexander von Minutoli: der Gründer des 1. Kunstgewerbemuseums der Welt (1844) (Norderstadt, [2018]), p. 360, ill. 25.
[2] On this sale, see Minkels 2018 (as above, note 1), pp. 459-460.
[3] Information kindly provided by Sven Haase and Manuela Krüger of the Staatliche Museen Berlin.
[4] Hearst owned three Valencian basins from the collection of the Schlossmuseum, Berlin. One was included in his posthumous sale held at Parke-Bernet Galleries in 1951, and was said to come from Arnold Seligmann, Rey and Co. No provenance for the present basin is given in the 1941 sale catalogue, but the three may have been purchased together.
[5] The third basin that belonged to the Schlossmuseum and Hearst was likewise in the 1941 sale at Gimbel Bros., and was acquired by the same private collector who owned the MFA object. It was publicly sold with in 1979 with Paula de Koenigsberg's name in the provenance. Koenigsberg and her husband were dealers who purchased a number of works of art from the Hearst sale.
[5] This object was first lent to the MFA in 1966; the collector had passed away in 1965.
about 1690
about 1740
about 1690
about 1525–30
About 1500–15
15th century
