Artist: Sforza di Marcantonio, painter; Date(s): 1561; Classification(s): tin-glazed earthenware, dish, tin-glazing, Earthenware, tin-glazed, painted in blue, greyish-green, yellow, orange, shades of brown, and black; the reverse is pale beige and has several pin holes.; Acquisition: bought, 1995, Purchased with the F. Leverton Harris Fund and the Leonard D. Cunliffe Fund [C.21-1995]
Description: Dish. Earthenware, tin-glazed, painted in blue, greyish-green, yellow, orange, shades of brown, and black; the reverse is pale beige and has several pin holes.
Circular with wide sloping rim and shallow curved well, convex in the centre.
The front is decorated overall with the Suicide of Hero. In the foreground, Leander lies drowned in water. On the right, a man seated on a rock looks towards him, raising his right arm. On the left, Cupid stands holding a flaming torch. In the background there is an archway inscribed 'AMOR.NE. CAVSA' (Love is the cause of it), the lower part of a tower, and a doorway with a window above. Hero is shown falling from a window in the tower. The edge is encircled by a very narrow black band and a wide yellow band. The back is decorated with a wreath of blue leaves on a continuous wavy stem. The base is inscribed in blue, 'Leandro in Mare &./Hero alla finestra/.61./.S.
