Wall tile

A square tin-glazed earthenware tile showing a man in profile within an oval medallion, his hair curled and his shoulder draped in a cloak. Blue scrolls, yellow volutes and a blue ground frame the central portrait, with a partial rosette medallion visible at the left edge. The white glaze shows through in blue-hatched modelling typical of painted maiolica.

Look closer: A small yellow rosette sits at the top center of the frame, above the medallion.

Artist

Unknown

Date

17th century

Medium

Tin-glazed earthenware

Source

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Size

1672 × 1420 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1894