A DISH, CASTLES OF ABRUZZO, 1580-1589 DISH, CASTELLI D'ABRUZZO, 1580-1589 Made of earthenware covered with cobalt blue enamel, with gold and white tin decoration, wide and deep cavetto with wide oblique brim, rests on a barely noticeable ring foot and is entirely covered with deep blue enamel. In the centre of the cavetto is the coat-of-arms of Cardinal Farnese with 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 square flower motif accompanied by a raceme decoration within gold reserves. On the brim the flower motif is repeated in a particularly rich continuous garland. The work in question shows the cardinal's coat-of-arms in the centre, probably made by subtraction or by using a mask when applying the gold, so as to obtain the lilies in blue on a gold field as required by heraldry, a system that suggests a date between 1580 and 1589 for the plate. The closest comparison in terms of quality and stylistic rendering is perhaps with a dish conserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (inv. 127-1892), which suggests a date close to the 1590s, while for a more accurate historical-critical analysis a comparison with a similar dish in a private collection, recently published by Timothy Wilson, is proposed; diam. cm 31.7, foot diam. cm 12.5, h. cm 4.8 Comparative literature L. Arbace in L. Fornari Schianchi, N. Spinosa (eds.), I Farnese. Arte e Collezionismo , Milan 1995, pp. 368-374; T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica Painting. Catalogue of a private collection, Turin 2018, p. 472 n. 216.