Un important bassin en majolique d'Urbino pour le Clark
The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown has acquired a significant 16th-century Urbino maiolica basin from the gallery Camille Leprince following its display at TEFAF. Attributed to the workshop of Orazio or Flaminio Fontana, the trilobed basin features intricate historiated scenes from the life of Joseph and elaborate grotesque decorations. The piece was a highlight of the fair and is accompanied by extensive research regarding its complex provenance.
This acquisition is notable for the object's turbulent 20th-century history, having been part of the Eugen Gutmann and Fritz Mannheimer collections before being seized by the Nazis for the planned Führermuseum. After being recovered by the 'Monuments Men' in a salt mine and returned to the Dutch state, it was sold at auction in 1952 rather than being returned to Mannheimer's heirs due to the banker's prior debts. Its arrival at the Clark Art Institute marks a major addition to the museum's holdings of European decorative arts, bridging Renaissance craftsmanship with a poignant history of wartime displacement.