Italy, Urbino / 1532
Plate with the Arms of the Pucci Family
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Plate with the Arms of the Pucci Family as ceramic (Italy, Urbino · 1532).
A more contemporary head of the family, Emilio Pucci, became famous as a fashion designer in the 1960s and 1970s.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this ceramic as tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica) and credits Francesco Xanto Avelli (Italian, 1487?–1544?).
The museum's collection notes: Italian nobles of the 1500s often expressed their wealth, social status, and sophistication by ordering large sets of maiolica that sometimes carried their coats of arms or even likenesses, usually in profile as in portraits of the period. The Pucci family was a powerful noble household in Renaissance Florence who were at times quite close allies of the Medici, a prominent banking family.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtPlate with the Arms of the Pucci FamilyOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.