The dish with the myth of Aesacus by Francesco Xanto Avelli

The work, exhibited in the Palazzetto, is made in painted majolica and bears the inscription “1534. ESACO IN SMERGO NEL CASCAR CANGIOSSI. NEL LIBRO D’OVIDIO MET: F.X.A.R. IN URBINO”. The initials ‘F.X.A.R.’ can reasonably be understood as Francesco Xanto, or Santo, Avelli (1486- 1545), one of the greatest High Renaissance ceramicists in Urbino.

The subject matter reflects the noted literary qualities of Avelli, active as a humanist and poet at the court of the Duke of Urbino Francesco Maria della Rovere (1490-1538). Aesacus, according to the mythological story reported by the Latin poet Ovid, was the oldest son of King Priam of Troy. In the Metamorphosis,  he falls in love with a nymph named Hesperia. When he pursues her, however, the nymph flees and is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies. Inconsolable, Aesacus tries to commit suicide by throwing himself off a cliff into the sea. But the goddess Tethys has pity on him and turns him into a diving bird (a merganser).

To be used as a purely decorative object, i.e., to be hung on a wall, or simply to embellish a room, the dish became part of the collection in 1921, coming from the antiques gallery of Giuseppe Sangiorgi.