Description
Round Italian earthenware dish from Castelli or Naples (?) with polychrome “a istoriato” decoration in the center of Judith holding the head of Holofernes*, the body of the latter resting in a tent on the left. Landscape in the background. Wing decorated with flowers.
Seventeenth century.
Diameter: 39 cm. Small crack on the wing around 7am.
*Holophernes, king of Nineveh and general of Nebuchadnezzar, besieged Bethulia, a small town in Palestine. Judith, widow of Manasseh and to save her city, put on her best dress and reached the enemy camp. Judith takes advantage of Holofernes’ drunkenness after a banquet to cut off his head.