A LARGE BOULBOUS JAR, VENICE, MASTRO DOMENICO AND COWORKERS, CIRCA 1570 LARGE BOULBOUS JAR, VENICE, MASTRO DOMENICO AND COWORKERS, CIRCA 1560 majolica painted in polychrome in blue, yellow, orange yellow, copper green in several shades, tin white, manganese in purple and black-brown tones; h. cm 33,4, diam. mouth cm 14,6, diam. foot cm 14 Literature P. Mazza in C. Ravanelli Guidotti (ed.), "Maioliche della più bella fabbrica". Selezione dalle Civiche Collezioni Bresciane e da collezioni private , exhibition cat., Brescia 2006, pp. 124-125 n. 33 Comparative literature C. Ravanelli Guidotti, Homage to Venice. Maioliche veneziane tra manierismo e barocco nelle raccolte del Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. II, exhibition cat., Faenza 1998, pp. 49-52; R. Perale, Maioliche da farmacia nella Serenissima, Venice 2021, p. 95 nn. 81-82 and pp. 107-119 The pharmaceutical container has a large globular body and jetted rim, a shape commonly known as a boccia, and is fully decorated. On the front, an oval medallion, enclosed in an articulated cartouche frame supported by two standing cupids depicted in different poses, holds the manly portrait of a young Roman condottiere with his head adorned by a laurel wreath; below runs the pharmaceutical cartouche with an inscription written in Gothic letters s.violat , indicating the name of the preparation contained. On the opposite side, within a circular medallion framed by a Della Robbia wreath, is a bust in profile of a Roman condottiere with a head adorned with a helmet and identifiable as Horatio , thanks to the legend inscribed next to the face bearing his name. Connecting the two medallions is a lively decoration on a blue background with shoots of leaves and fruit joined to a 'trophy' ornament. The vase was published by Piergiorgio Mazza in the catalogue of an exhibition held in Brescia in 2006, in which the scholar recalled the presence in the Venetian lagoon environment of Durantine-Marchigiano masters, which is especially evident in the early period of production, between 1535 and 1540. This typology, already defined as 'polychrome trophies' by Carmen Ravanelli Guidotti, who proposed an initial anthology, sees the clear and important influence of typical Casteldurante stylistic features, which we find here represented in the trophy decoration in a stylistic mode fused with elements typical of Venetian workshops and that of Mastro Domenico's workshop in particular, such as the foliate girali. However, this work stands out for the complexity of its decorative layout choices from the panorama of production in the 1560s and 1570s. Riccardo Perale, in his recent publication on Venetian apothecary vases, recalls the hypothesis already put forward by Angelica Alverà Bortolotto, regarding a possible attribution of works 'with trophies and portraits on a yellow background' to the workshop of Mastro Jacomo or to the production of Francesco di Casteldurante, proposing a possible earlier date for this particular type. In this regard, it should be noted how the comparison between the globular vase from the MIC in Faenza (inv. no. 6135) and ours highlights common stylistic characteristics, such as the design taste of the Faenza putto and the cupids supporting our medallion, the shape and decorative choice of the secondary decorations and the coherent choice in the arrangement and realisation of the cartouche. As for the attribution, however, we agree with scholars who consider the vase attributable to the workshop of Mastro Domenico and collaborators between 1550 and 1570 due to its material and quality, emphasising however how the work differs from the current production of the Venetian workshop, lending itself to further analysis and investigation.