A LARGE PHARMACY JAR (ALBARELLO), VENICE, MASTRO DOMENICO (ATTR.), CIRCA 1560-1570 LARGE ALBARELLO, VENICE, MASTRO DOMENICO (ATTR.), CIRCA 1560- 1570 polychrome painted majolica in blue, yellow, orange, copper green, tin white and manganese in shades of violet and black. On the bottom label of provenance Alberto and Michele SUBERT - MILANO ; h. 38.4 cm, mouth diameter 18.8 cm, foot diameter 23.2 cm Comparative literature M. Vitali, Homage to Venice. Le ceramiche della Fondazione Cini. I , Faenza 1998, p. 54 table 2; F. Saccardo in R. Ausenda (ed.), La collezione della Fondazione Banco di Sicilia. Le maioliche, Cinisello Balsamo 2010, pp. 156-159 no. 55; R. Perale, Maioliche da farmacia nella Serenissima, Venice 2021, pp. 69-78 and related bibliography The large albarello has a body with a strongly rounded shoulder and foot, divided by a clear demarcation emphasised by a raised fillet; the cylindrical neck is low, terminating in a barely everted rim. The decoration, which covers the entire surface, shows on the lower part of the front a large pharmaceutical scroll painted in a more traditional style, in the form of a real paper scroll arranged in a sinuous movement with ochre shading and small manganese decorations, and inside it the inscription in Gothic characters Mostarda f indicating the preparation. Just above, within a large oval reserve, is a historiated scene featuring a running putto with a thin stick in his hands, in a landscape with high, pointed mountains and a sky moved by clouds. On the opposite side, there is a Della Robbia frame in an unusual version with pointed blue leaves tied by a thin ribbon accompanied by small brown pine cones and centred by open corollas, closing with the figure of a lady painted in profile on a yellow background illuminated by dots of white tin and red threading: the woman wears pearl earrings, her hair is held back by a blue ribbon, and her violet dress with a wide neckline enriched by a lace collar leaves her breasts barely exposed. All around is the classic decorative motif of large flowers, curled acanthus leaves, rendered in fine mesh on a thick cobalt blue background and decorated with subtle graffiti. The quality of this work is very high, and the portrait clearly recalls the well-known experiences of contemporary Venetian painting, finding comparison in a boccia from the Cini Foundation in Venice, painted, however, with less expertise; a portrait close in quality to those depicted in a splendid boccia from the Perez Collection in Palermo. It is also interesting to note how the cartouche and the small historiated scene re-emerge with Marche experiences, present in some works of the Venetian workshop, the result of a clear contamination due to the painters present in the lagoon city, of which Riccardo Perale provides us with an accurate examination in his recent study.