Creative Commons License
Dish with Saint Jerome
(Baroque Europe )
This dish portrays Saint Jerome as a hermit, holding up a crucifix while he holds a stone to beat his breast, warding off temptation. His faithful lion friend looks more like an excited puppy. the execution shows signs of haste and there are many version of this inexpensive piece, that may have served as a kind of souvenir for the pious traveler, attesting to Jerome's popularity among Renaissance penitents. The sky in the background is dotted with gold luster, a technique adopted from imported Spanish pottery during the fifteenth century. The back is white. The dish was probably produced in Deruta, a center for maiolica production in the sixteenth century and later. For other examples of maiolica plates depicting Saint Jerome, see 48.1343 and 48.1504; for examples of Saint Jerome doing penance in other artistic mediums, see 37.543, 37.594, and 37.1089; for more information “luster” wares, see 48.1320; for “maiolica” see 48.1336.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Italy, Deruta (Place of Origin)
Measurements
1 9/16 x 6 5/16 in. (4 x 16 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
48.1502