Wide-rimmed bowl with Perseus and Andromeda

"In Castel Durante" Painter

ca. 1522–25 · Maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware) · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

At the center of this bowl, Perseus appears with the head of Medusa, whom he has killed. The hero reappears on the bowl's rim, arriving on a puff of cloud to free Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus, who holds her captive. The scenes themselves are discreet and sequential: in mythology separated by time, and on this piece set apart by a white border. The landscape, however, flows continuously from one image into the next.

Artist

"In Castel Durante" Painter

Date

ca. 1522–25

Medium

Maiolica (tin-glazed earthenware)

Culture

Italian, Urbino or Castel Durante

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, by exchange, 1965