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15 Round Dish: The Punishment of Rome with the Pucci coat of arms

In Renaissance-period Italy, advancements in printmaking had an influence on various other fields. One example of that influence can be seen in maiolica, a type of pottery made by applying a white tin glaze to bisque-fired earthenware before decorating it with various pigments. Maiolica painters began formulating increasingly complex designs as they freely borrowed imagery from prints made by some of the greatest artists of the time. This round dish was the work of Francesco Xanto Avelli, who was particularly talented at creating new compositions by combining figures selected from different prints. For this dish, Xanto placed a female figure personifying the city of Rome in the center, giving her the same pose seen in the celebrated print Venus Wounded by a Thorn, which was based on a drawing by Raphael.