Mikó Árpád szerk.: Reneissance year 2008 (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2008/1)

GABRIELLA BALLA: The Dowry of Beatrice. The Art of Italian Majolica and the Court ot King Matthias Corvinus

Bowl with the arms of King Matthias and Queen Beatrice, Pesaro, 1476 (?) New York, Metropolitan Museum mark the peak of 15th century Majolica art. They also constitute the first major royal order received in Italy from beyond the Alps. The latest research suggests that the bowls were made in Pesaro on the Adriatic coast, ruled by the Sforza family, who were related to Queen Beatrice and had links with Matthias. The bowls made for the King of Hungary may have allowed Pesaro to rise above the other Majolica centres in the area, and the order may also have laid the foundations for the flourishing of ceramic art in nearby Urbino. Two pieces of the "Corvin Service" are also crucial in the development of istoriato Majolica, which depicts episodes from the Bible, mythology and history. The exhibition displays three of the four known pieces of the service, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology', Berkeley. Beside them, many other objects and finds from archaeological excavations in Pesaro clearly bear out the provenance of the bowls. Renaissance Majolica ware was popular even beyond the Alps in the 15th century. Striking pictorial evidence for this comes from the Majolica vessels in Dutch and