Tin-glazed earthenware dish of round form, depicting the Greek general Alexander overcome with love for Roxana, daughter of King Oxyartes, with a coat of arms.
Literature
The scene on this dish derives from an engraved copy of a work by the much admired Italian artist Raphael. Subjects from Greek and Roman mythology represented some of the most popular sources of inspiration for the Italian potters of the 16th Century.
Two further examples of earlier Italian Maiolica dishes depicting the same scene, one by Francesco Xanto Avelli, dated to 1533 in the Victoria & Albert Museum, Museum no. 1748-1855 [2008], the other also by Avelli, dated to 1534 in the Metropolitan Museum, Accession Number: 18.129.2.