Basin with two-tailed mermaid

Fragment of a hull-shaped basin with a flat, molded rim, glazed internally and externally. The center of the basin is decorated with a two-tailed mermaid grasping her tails with both hands over a filled lattice background; there is a green braid inserted between parallel brown lines in proximity to the rim. The find belongs to the so-called Proto-majolica phase. This term, taken from the designations traditionally used to define the periods of ancient Attic pottery, adopted by Gaetano Ballardini when he systematically classified Italian majolica, is used to chronologically define a type of glazed ceramic tableware produced from the mid-thirteenth century in central and northern Italy and whose basic characteristic is the presence of a stanniferous vitrified glaze over the container’s main surface, which is also embellished with pictorial decorations in copper green and manganese brown, while secondary surfaces are simply covered with a plumbiferous glaze. Proto-majolica forms are divided into open and closed types and are characterized by numerous variants and subvariants often produced in specific areas, such as the pelican mug typical of the Umbria–Latium area. Since the class occupies a rather broad chronological range, it is still problematic to date in order to establish a satisfactory overview of its evolution, but in central Italy the area occupied by this new class—which in terms of technique and final product was aimed at replacing previous tableware such as green glazed ceramics, underglazed painted ceramics, and Latium ceramics—would seem to be the city of Pisa. Generally speaking, it is possible to observe an “early phase” (1200–1250), relating exclusively to the production of Attic Majolica basins for architectural decorations; a “developed phase,” which can be dated to 1250–1350 when Attic Majolica, produced as tableware ceramics, is found in significant numbers in most archaeological sites; there is then a third, “late phase,” which goes from 1350 to the first half of the fifteenth century, during which, both morphologically and decoratively, we can see a series of internal elaborations that in some cases evolve into subsequent Renaissance forms. This large class contains distinct productions on an almost regional basis. Umbrian production—which this particular artifact belongs to—is usually associated with northern Latium production, which in fact would seem to be strongly influenced by the former.
Proto-majolica vessels at times are decorated with fantastical motifs inspired by legends and fables, although it should be emphasized that they are quantitatively far inferior to all the other types of motifs such as geometric, phytomorphic, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic, gothic letter, and heraldic motifs. In productions from northern Latium and Orvieto ther are depictions of multiform beings that often mix the human with plant or animal motifs. In this example, we have imagery that is commonly found in contemporary and older production, thus indicating a a collective iconographic heritage from different media, from manuscripts to mosaic floors. The two-tailed mermaid in the exact same pose can also be seen, for example, in the mosaic floor of the cathedral of Otranto, a floor fragment of the church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna, on the portal of the parish church of Corsignano in Pienza, and finally in a capital of the duomo of Acquapendente.
In terms of its morphology, the basin was placed in the center of the table as a serving dish for roasts or stews, which made it the focal point for diners,  perhaps explaining the prominent and formally extremely interesting decorative motifs. In fact, contemporary depictions often incorporate a metal bowl placed at the center of the table, which, as the bowl is made from an even more valuable material, underscores the importance of these artifacts.

Beatrice Brancazi

Entry published on 12 February 2025

Poor. The basin is highly fragmented and has been subjected to two different types of restoration, a more obvious one and another more imitative of the original basin.

The artifact has been restored twice. The first restoration took place in 1994, the second in 1998.

The artifact belongs to the Del Pelo Pardi collection, which consists of about 180 pieces and was put together during the first decades of the twentieth century by Giulio Del Pelo Pardi who, a close friend of Pericle Perali and Gaetano Ballardini—two central figures in the discovery, study, and attempted preservation of ancient ceramics in those years—was probably influenced by them in his desire to collect and preserve materials that were copiously plundered from Orvieto to be sold on the international black market. In 1950, Del Pelo Pardi donated his collection, accompanied by a typewritten catalog prepared by Perali, to the Museo di Palazzo Venezia, where its traces were soon lost. Fortunately, however, in the 1990s, during a survey undertaken to retrieve and review the materials in the museum's depository, a collection was recovered and assumed to be the Del Pelo Pardi collection. Patient restoration work on the fragments, which lasted a total of four years, eventually confirmed this hypothesis and provided an incredible array of Orvieto majolica (Sconci 2000). 

Orvieto, Museo della Tradizione Ceramica, Palazzo Simoncelli, Oltre il frammento, December 18 1999–January 23 2000;
Faenza, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Oltre il frammento, May 20–September 30 2000;
Rome, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia, Oltre il frammento, October 25 2001–January 31 2002.

Satolli Alberto, La ceramica orvietana nel medioevo, Firenze 1983, p. 79, n. 85; 
Fiocco Carola, Gherardi Gabriella, Museo del Torgiano: ceramiche, Perugia 1991, p. 67, n. 73, fig. 59;
Sconci Maria Selene (a cura di), Oltre il frammento: forme e decori della maiolica medievale orvietana. Il recupero della collezione Del Pelo Pardi, Roma 2000, p. 202, fig. 161;
Brancazi Beatrice, Rappresentazioni antropomorfe dalla Maiolica Arcaica alto laziale, in «NUME, V ciclo di Studi Medievali», Lesmo 2019, pp. 374-380;
Brancazi Beatrice, Cencelle V. Figure dal sottosuolo. I motivi decorativi della Maiolica Arcaica di Cencelle, Gorgonzola 2021, pp. 310-313; pp. 325-327.