"Berettino" rod - Faenza 1540-1550

Round in shape, this elegant little dish, also called a tondino, is very representative of the typical decorations of Faenza and its local production in the sixteenth century.

The composition is ordered and divided into several registers, where a repertoire of grotesque decorations is arranged. First of all on the wing of the dish, are represented cherubs, masks topped with banners of flowers and leaves alternating with open books and fish. Then at the level of the umbilicus, a flower decorated with arabesques and a winged putto head.
All this profusion of decoration creates a perfect symmetry that stands out on a cobalt blue background, also called "a berettino" decoration.
From the 1520s, variations on the theme of grotesques and the bluish glaze, known as "a berettino", became the most widespread decoration in Faenza.
Faenza, located in the province of Ravenna in northeastern Italy, is a city of art particularly known, since the Renaissance, for its production of ceramic objects. With almost 270 workshops, the town is one of the most important production centers of the sixteenth century.