Bella Donna Charger (c. 1520–30): Art, History and Details

Bella Donna Charger (c. 1520–30) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Ceremonial plates decorated with a bella donna (beautiful woman) feature half-length portraits of a young woman surrounded by scrolled banners. Many bella donna plates were informed by the frescos of Renaissance painters Pietro Perugino and Pinturicchio.

Object facts

• Title: Bella Donna Charger
• Date: c. 1520–30
• Culture: Italy, Papal States, Deruta
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: tin-glazed earthenware with yellow and blue lustre (maiolica)
• Dimensions: Diameter: 8.6 x 41.3 cm (3 3/8 x 16 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1923.1096

A detail from the museum

Scholars believe that chargers such as these were given as marriage gifts or in memory of someone who had died.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.