Chair. Florentine, XVI Century
The grotesque figures, the grinning mask and other decorative motives which may be noted in this elaborately carved chair are characteristic of furniture designed in the High Renaissance.
Pomona, Glazed Terracotta Statuette. Giovanni Delia Robbia, 1469-1529 (?)
This charming statuette of Pomona, or Dovizia, as it has been suggested, is the work of Giovanni della Robbia, a Florentine sculptor, the son of Andrea della Robbia who was the nephew of Luca della Robbia. The work of the della Robbia family in glazed terracotta is familiar to all lovers of Italian art. Giovanni was the pupil of his father. His early works, such as this Pomona, show him at his best; in his later productions he lacks refinement and indulges in polychromy with too liberality. When discreetly used, as in this statuette, color enriches the plastic quality of the work. The goddess wears a blue gown with decorations in golden yellow; the fruit is represented naturalistically in yellow green and violet; and the flesh parts are glazed in white. On her head the Goddess carries a basket filled with fruit, and in her left hand a brimming cornucopia. A little boy, with charming naturalness, turns to her for protection as if afraid of the dog barking at him.
Candlestick, Wood, Carved and Gilded. Florentine, XVI Century
Vasari and a writer of the XVII century mention a statue by Donatello of La Dovizia, which stood in the Mercato Vecchio in Florence. This statue is described as representing a maiden bearing on her head a basket of fruit. The statue is lost, but two existing statuettes of the della Robbia school, in addition to our own (both inferior to ours), are probably reflections of the Donatello Dovizia. In one, in the Buonarotti Museum, we see a maiden supporting on her head, with her right hand, a basket filled with flowers and fruit. A similar statuette in the Berlin Museum carries a cornucopia as well as a basket. Both are called Pomona. The cornucopia, however, is the classic attribute of Ceres and of Abundantia, or, in this case, Dovizia, the Italian version of Abundantia. That our statuette is intended as a personification of riches or abundance rather than as Pomona becomes yet clearer when we examine the inscription on the base: GLORIA ET DIVITIE IN DOMO TUA, “May Honor and Riches Be Within Thy House.” The boy and dog give a touch of domesticity to the group. They express “within thy house,” revealing Dovizia as a household goddess.
