Dish with Scene of Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
- 106
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Arts of the Italian Renaissance, 1400-1600," November 17, 1958-January 6, 1959, no. 98.
Alfred Pringsheim (1850-1941), Munich, as by Virgiliotto Calamelli da Faenza, by 1914-June 8, 1939 [1];
Purchased at his sale, The Renowned Collection of Superb Italian Majolica, The Property of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim of Munich, Sotheby & Co., London, June 8, 1939, lot 159, through Julius Goldschmidt Galleries, London, by Robert Lehman (1891-1969), New York, no. C157, 1939-1943 [2];
His gift, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1943.
NOTES:
[1] Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, vol. 3 (Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1914), no. 236, (repro.). Alfred Pringsheim was a German Jewish collector. During Kristallnacht, in November 1938, the Nazi SS seized Pringsheim’s majolica collection from his home in Munich. It was stored in the annex to the Bayerisches National Museum, Munich. In March 1939, the German Ministry of Trade authorized export of Pringsheim's majolica collection to London for auction at Sotheby's, provided that 80% of the proceeds up to £ 20,000 and 70% of the remainder be paid to the German Gold Discount Bank in foreign currency. Pringsheim was to receive the remaining proceeds. In exchange, Pringsheim and his wife were allowed to emigrate to Switzerland. See Timothy Wilson, "Alfred Pringsheim and his Collection of Italian Maiolica," in Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim, augmented reprint with articles by Tjark Hausman, Carmen Ravanelli-Guidotti and Timothy Wilson, Ferrara 1994, vol. 3, pp. 85-87. After the war, the Pringsheim heirs received restitution of the sale proceeds paid to the Reichsbank pursuant to a settlement agreement with the German government. See Minutes of a closed session of the Reparation Claims Office I for Upper Bavaria, Munich, March 11, 1955, Staatsarchiv München, Wiedergutmachungsbehörde Oberbayern, WB 1a 2407, copy in NAMA curatorial files.
[2] Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Robert Lehman Papers, box 82, folder 13.
Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, vol. 3 (Leiden: A. W. Sijthoff’s Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1914), no. 236, (repro.)
The Renowned Collection of Superb Italian Majolica, The Property of Dr. Alfred Pringsheim of Munich, Sotheby & Co., London, June 7, 1939, lot 159.
Decorative arts of the Italian Renaissance, 1400-1600 exh. cat. (Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, November 18, 1958-January 4, 1959), 46.
Dr. J. Chompret, Répertoire de la majolique italienne, vol. 1 (Milan: Edizioni San Gottardo, 1986), 86.
Dr. J. Chompret, Répertoire de la majolique italienne, vol. 2 (Milan: Edizioni San Gottardo, 1986), fig. 589, (repro.).
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 152.
Otto von Falke, Die Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim, augmented reprint with articles by Tjark Hausman, Carmen Ravanelli-Guidotti and Timothy Wilson, Ferrara 1994, vol. 3, no. 342 (236), repro. plate CLXXXVI.
