POLYCHROME FAIENCE ALBARELLO, WORKSHOP OF MASTRO DOMENICO, VENICE, THIRD QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY with continuous trophy decoration on a plain blue ground and garlands of flowers and fruit at the extremities; some wear and tear and defect to the glaze, craquelure, minor loss of glaze in the base engraved markings H. cm 32.5, diam. cm 18 A VENICE MAIOLICA ALBARELLO, THIRD QUARTER 16TH CENTURY; SLIGHTLY WORN, FEW GLAZE DEFECTS, CRAQUELURE, MINOR GLAZE LOSSES The military theme of trophies (quiver, shields, armour, axe) and musical subjects (scores, lute, zither, drum), an invention of Castel Durante, was often adopted in monochrome in the 16th century by Venetian workshops: first in that of Maestro Ludovico, where blue monochrome trophies prevailed, and then in that of Domenico da Venezia, by whom the same subjects were executed in polychrome. For a comparison, see the albarello conserved at the Regional Museum of Messina (M. P. Pavone, Maestro Domenico da Venezia e la spezieria del grande ospedale di Messina, in 'Faenza', 1985, no. 6, pp. 49-67) or the one from a private collection and sold by Finarte on 6 March 1996 (lot 164), both attributed to the workshop of Domenico da Venezia.