Large dish with angel, last quarter of the 15th cent.

Engobed, graffitied and painted terracotta

Museo Schifanoia, inv. OA190

The large dish, reassembled in 4 fragments, features a rounded rim and a wide, slightly oblique brim decorated with a heart-shaped leaf scroll. The bowl depicts an angelic figure seated on a low throne, her face turned to the right, her wings spread, and her right arm raised with the index finger of her hand pointing upward, while with her left she holds a kissed sphere. A large pavilion with raised curtains frames the scene embellished with some plant elements such as the eight corolla flowers and, at the sides, flowering trees on stylized trellis hedges. The entire decorative complex, which can be likened to the representation of Muses and Virtues, has a clear symbolic meaning to this day yet to be deciphered. The artifact, due to its technical and stylistic characteristics, is referable to the graffito ceramics of Ferrara production and can be dated to the last quarter of the 15th century. The plate was found in 1906, during the earthworks carried out on what is now Corso Giovecca for the construction of the Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara building. Collected by Giovanni Pasetti, a collector and scholar of ceramics, it was donated, along with numerous other finds, to the Civic Museums in 1935.