Bringing decorative craft to the table

Francesco Urbini's profile of a frowning man is a bit like those fantastic heads composed entirely of vegetables by Arcimboldo - except that Urbini's portrait is painted on a plate and is composed entirely of penises.

It is thought that Urbini's comic portrait of an austere-looking figure wearing a Prince Albert piercing could well be that of his friend, Francesco Xanto Avelli, or Xanto as he is simply known.

It is, at any rate, the only one we are likely to see of the celebrated ceramic artist of the Italian Renaissance, and star of this excellent exhibition.

Like Urbini, Xanto was a painter of tin-glazed earthenware known as maiolica. Depicting highly detailed narrative scenes from the Bible and from classical mythology in a gorgeous lustre, his figures were usually borrowed from contemporary prints. These were copied to form new and highly detailed compositions.

But though very decorative, these plates were also to be seen at the best Northern Italian tables. They also depicted contemporary scenes, such as the 1527 sack of Rome by the troops of Charles V, in his dramatic 1534 plate, The Battle Of Pavia. Xanto clearly had intellectual ambitions beyond his craft, as this illuminating exhibition beautifully illustrates.

Until Apr 15, The Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square W1, daily 10am to 5pm, free. Tel: 020 7563 9500. Tube: Bond Street

Xanto: Pottery-Painter, Poet, Man Of The Italian Renaissance
Wallace Collection
Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1U 3BN