Attributed to the Master of Flora (Active in France in the second half of the 16th century) Project for a dish with an allegory of Bacchus pressing grapes Pen and brown ink, brown and indigo wash and white gouache highlights over black pencil lines Traces of annotations on verso Grape watermarked paper with an I, very similar to Briquet no. 13190-13191-13195-13196, paper found in Lyon between 1547 and 1582 (Vertical and horizontal central folds, small restored tears, spotting and stains) Without frame Project of a dish with an allegory of Bacchus, pen and brown ink, indigo wash and white gouache highlights, attr. to Master of Flora 15.27 x 20.94 in. 38.8 x 53.2 cm Provenance: Rossella Gilli Collection, Paris Our leaf, spectacular in terms of its size and subject, is preparatory to a large goldsmith's piece elegantly decorated with a putti frieze around the edge. These decorative putti friezes can be found in tapestries and goldsmith's and silversmith's pieces, regularly used in France by the Fontainebleau school. Our design is for a large, elaborate bowl that was used as a wine fountain at receptions. The guests would pour themselves glassfuls of wine until the central motif in the background became visible: a naked Bacchus, lying on a bed of grapes that his body is squeezing and from which a cascade of wine is pouring out, to which a troupe of young satyrs are drinking. The Master of Flora was built up around a corpus that was not very homogeneous, grouping together a whole series of drawings and paintings focusing on light mythological scenes in the midst of abundant nature. The subject of our sheet brings us closer to this group, while raising questions about the possible identity of our artist. These putti farandoles can be found in several tapestries and drawings by Antoine Caron, notably in the drawing La Fête au château d'Anet in the Musée du Louvre (RF 30624), where, as in our sheet, we see a birdwatcher, followed by a bear showman and then a saraband of musicians. Technically, however, our drawing does not correspond to Caron's known body of work. On the other hand, it is stylistically close to an Ambroise Dubois, but we know of no production by him before the 1600s, even though he was born in 1543... Attributed to the Master of Flora (Active in France in the second half of the 16th century) 38.8 x 53.2 cm The size and subject of this spectacular leaf are preparatory to a large goldsmith's and silversmith's piece elegantly decorated with a putti frieze around the edge. These decorative putti friezes can be found in tapestries and goldsmith's and silversmith's pieces, regularly used in France by the Fontainebleau school. Our design is for a large, elaborate bowl that was used as a wine fountain at receptions. The guests would pour themselves glassfuls of wine until the central motif in the background became visible: a naked Bacchus, lying on a bed of grapes that his body is squeezing and from which a cascade of wine is pouring out, to which a troupe of young satyrs are drinking. The Master of Flora was built up around an inconsistent body of work, with a whole series of drawings and paintings focusing on light, mythological scenes set against a backdrop of abundant nature. The subject of our sheet brings us closer to this group, while raising questions about the possible identity of our artist. These putti farandoles can be found in several tapestries and drawings by Antoine Caron, notably in the drawing La Fête au château d'Anet in the Musée du Louvre (RF 30624), where, as in our sheet, we see a birdwatcher, followed by a bear showman and then a saraband of musicians. Technically, however, our drawing does not correspond to Caron's known body of work. On the other hand, it is stylistically close to an Ambroise Dubois, but we know of no production by him before the 1600s, even though he was born in 1543...