A DISH, CASTLES OF ABRUZZO, 1580-1589 DISH, CASTELLI D'ABRUZZO, 1580-1589 Majolica dish covered in cobalt blue enamel, with gold and white tin decoration, wide and deep cavetto with oblique brim, resting on a barely noticeable ring foot. In the centre of the cavetto is the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Farnese with the six blue lilies on a gold field, surmounted by the cardinal's hat with six tassels and enclosed in a frame painted in white tin; around it is the characteristic motif of quadrangular flowers accompanied by a raceme decoration in white tin, which is repeated on the brim in a continuous garland. The central coat of arms is probably made by subtraction or by using a mask when applying gold, so as to obtain the lilies in blue on a gold field as required by heraldry according to a precise technique that we find on many examples. The decoration is more simplified than on other examples and shows less attention to execution, matching the dish with undecorated reverse in the Wü Landes Museum in Stuttgart; diam. 23 cm, foot diameter 7.5 cm, h. 3.6 cm Comparative literature C. De Pompeis, C. Ravanelli Guidotti, M. Ricci, Le maioliche cinquecentesche di Castelli. Una grande stagione artistica ritrovata , Pescara 1989, no. 538