Low-Footed Bowl with Bust of a Woman

Low-Footed Bowl with Bust of a Woman, Urbino or Castel Durante, c. 1530, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), Diam. 8 1/2 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975

Selected Works

Newborn Baby in a Crib Low-Footed Bowl with Bust of a Woman Two-Handled Vase with an Amorous Inscription Woman's Cap Childbirth Tray (Desco da Parto) with The Triumph of Fame (recto) and Medici and Tornabuoni Arms and Devices (verso) Childbirth Bowl (Scodella) with a Confinement-Chamber Scene (interior) and Landscape (exterior); Childbirth Tray (Tagliere) with a Confinement-Chamber Scene (top) and a Cupid (bottom)

Celebrating
Betrothal, Marriage, and Childbirth

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Low-Footed Bowl with Bust of a Woman

The woman painted on this bella donna (beautiful woman) footed bowl, or coppa, is identified as "Beautiful Livia." She wears a silk velvet cap, or scufia, with a jewel at the center and a necklace of black cord, whose pendant is tucked into her bodice—fashionable attire of the period. It is one of a group of bowls celebrating women, including Caterina Bella, Elisabetta Bella, and Aura Bella, that seem to have been painted in Urbino or Castel Durante as well as in Gubbio.

Return to Celebrating Betrothal, Marriage, and Childbirth

From Cassone to Poesia: Paintings of Love and Marriage

Profane Love