FOCUS ON THE BOWL

🔘: “At last! Now it’s my turn!”: Nicola da Urbino chose the scene of the gathering of the manna from the Bible (Exodus 16, 19–20) for my decoration. And this theme, chosen for the biggest dish in Isabella‘s service, has an important function as an exemplary tale.”

🔘: “For all those of you who don’t know their Bible all that well, I’ll give a brief synopsis of the story:


After Moses and his people have left Egypt, they find themselves on a taxing journey through the desert, and their rations are running out. They are in fear of dying of starvation and turn to Moses in their desperation, their leader, who is accompanied by his brother Aaron the high priest, followed by Joshua and his wife.


God intervenes and says to Moses: “Behold, I shall rain bread from Heaven for you.” And so it happens. The next morning, a kind of dew lies on the ground around the camp, it is manna, as white as coriander seeds and as sweet as honey-cakes. Everyone is only to gather enough manna for their daily needs. But the people pay no attention to the instruction and hoard it for themselves. The next morning, the manna is worm-ridden and spoiled, and they must gather it afresh.“

The scene depicted on the bowl shows the point at which the process of harvesting the manna has already been established. It is well organized and everyone is busy at it. Men, women and children are gathering white manna from the ground. The entire tribe is involved, from little children to old men.  

With the lessons learned from this, that survival in the desert can only be assured when all work together and obey the instructions from above, the people learn to trust God.

The manna is both mental and physical sustenance – a sign that a higher power protects people and watches over them.

The gathering of the manna fulfils a special exemplary function in the Renaissance. It is an appeal to rulers to govern with foresight, humanely and with propriety, in keeping with the humanist creed (from Latin = humanitas). The fact that the gathering of the manna is chosen to decorate the biggest piece in Isabella‘s service emphasises the importance of this message. The service which Eleonora gives to her mother in 1524 can be understood as an acknowledgement of Isabella’s wise rule up to then. The gathering of the manna clearly plays a key role in this. The coat of arms makes it clear who is being honoured here.

As his template for the realisation of the scene of the gathering of the manna on the edge of the bowl, the majolica painter Nicola da Urbino uses an engraving by Agostino Veneziano (1490-1540) or Marcantonio Raimondi (1475-1534) after a visual composition by the most famous painter of the age, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.

🔘: “There he stands in front of the engraving, Nicola da Urbino, the best of the best, wondering how he can transfer this template onto the edge of the dish. To do it, Nicola needs to move the figures around a bit and even rotates two of them 180 degrees. It is the work of a master how deftly he adjusts the rectangular format of the engraving to the round form of the bowl.”

🔘: “The majolica painter made a few more minor alterations. Perhaps you would be interested to see if you can spot them…?“

The most significant change in the contents made by Nicola da Urbino at any rate is the change in the position of the man with the beard. On the engraving, he is turned towards Moses with his basket while on the dish, he is rotated 180 degrees to the right, and portrayed stretching out his arms forwards. This puts the basket for receiving the manna directly underneath the coat of arms in the centre of the dish. By means of this artistic device, the reference drawn between the house of Gonzaga/Este and the prosperity of the people entrusted to their care is underlined. It is not Moses who is the addressee and the leader here, but the ruler and owner of the service, Isabella d’Este. In this way the representation of the gathering of the manna takes on a new meaning: the biblical story is transposed into the present.

The focus in the dish is on the centrally placed arms of alliance of the Gonzaga/Este. This emphasises the responsibility of the dynasty for the wellbeing of the people entrusted to their care.

The arms of alliance in the centre of the bowl is held by two cupids.

An arms of alliance is the representation of two coats of arms whose bearers are linked by an alliance. The families of the Este from the Duchy of Ferrara and the Gonzaga from the Margravate of Mantua are connected through the marriage of Francesco Gonzaga and Isabella d’Este.

On the left of the illustration (also on the bowl) is the coat of arms of the Gonzaga, on the right that of the Este.

🔘: “It goes without saying that Eleonora, as the person who commissioned the service for her mother Isabella, wishes to have the arms of alliance of both families in a prominent position in the centre of the dish. The arms of alliance is present on all the items in Isabella’s service, it is true, but not always placed in the centre. The positioning of her “logo” depends on the form and the decorative scheme of the piece in question.“

The reference to Isabella d’Este’s majolica service is not only created by means of the arms of alliance, but also through so-called “imprese”. These are individual symbols created specifically for a particular person and a special occasion. They stand for a guiding principle which should inspire the actions of a person. Due to their encrypted coding, such imprese can only be decoded by insiders. An intellectual maxim, wherever possible in Latin, is formulated for each pictorial symbol.

A total of seven imprese are used for Isabella d'Este's service, which all occur in varying combinations on the 24 surviving plates, platters and dishes and bowls of the service.

🔘: “Well, let’s start with me: three imprese can be found on me: the sheet of music with rests, the candlestick and the crucible in the fire.”

The earliest impresa is a sheet of music, but with only the staves, the clef, tempo indications and rests. The notes themselves are missing. This leaves room for a number of interpretations: for instance, “in silence lies strength” or “silence is golden, speech is but silver”. Isabella d’Este took over the two following imprese from her husband Francesco from the Gonzaga dynasty:

This Impresa showing a candlestick can only be decoded when we know the accompanying Latin commentary: “sufficit unum in tenebris“ = “one light is enough in the darkness”.

This motto refers to the office (Catholic mass on particularly high holidays) of the Easter Vigil. 

The choice of the candlestick on the dish is a fitting attribute for the subject of the gathering of the manna. Both the people and their leaders can rely on God to light their way. For Isabella, this means: just as Moses strives, with God’s help, to do the best for his people, so should she, as ruler, care for the needs of those entrusted to her. 

The Latin maxim for this impresa showing a “crucible with a golden rod in the fire“ is: “Probasti me, domine, et cognovisti“ = "Search me, O God, and know my heart.“ The exhortation to take on oneself any trial that may come completes the message of the gathering of the manna. For Isabella d’Este and her husband, too, the maxim is: whatever trials God may impose on them, they will accept it to test their mettle, not be daunted by blows of fate and setbacks and never lose their trust in God.

A total of seven imprese have been identified for Isabella, which all occur in varying combinations on the 24 surviving plates, platters and dishes of the service.

🔘: “I miss my (twenty-three) little siblings… if I wanted to see them all I would have to travel once around the globe: from St. Petersburg via Berlin to London, Cambridge and Luton Hoo, from Paris to New York, Boston and Philadelphia, to Verona and Bologna and a quick jump over to Melbourne. Backpackers welcome… But flying such a lot is out of fashion today, so I will have to make do with longing for them and visit the others virtually. By the way, you can too, if you want – here:”

1: A SERVICE FOR ISABELLA D’ESTE  – A BOWL TELLS ITS STORY
2: HOW DOES A BOWL END UP IN A MUSEUM?
3: AN IMPORTANT COMMISSION FOR NICOLA DA URBINO
4: A CRASH COURSE IN MAJOLICA
5: FOCUS ON THE BOWL
6: A PORTRAIT OF ISABELLA D’ESTE