A small trilobate mug with a flaming heart pierced by a scroll with the inscription "c 1510"

The container is a polychrome mug of Faenza production, painted with the typical contrast of warm tones (yellow and orange) combined with cold ones (cobalt blue and copper green). The artifact has an opening with a trilobed spout and it widens into a body with a bulging ovoid belly. On the front, the main decoration shows a circular medallion with a ladder frame, containing a large heart with a warm orange hue and surmounted by a stylized yellow tongue of fire, which indicates the burning passion of love and the love as a universal force. This symbolism, that was common to many Italian Renaissance workshops, is most commonly found on open shapes, such as bowls, plates and "tondini", but we can also find it on closed ones such as pitchers and mugs. In fact, this specimen is fully part of the production of amorous crockery, and it also presents a showy horizontal scroll shaded in blue, which crosses, like a Cupid's arrow, the heart that burns with eternal love.