Basket of Fruit

Artist Giovanni della Robbia, (Workshop of) Italian, 1469 - 1529

Dateearly 16th Century

MediumGlazed earthenware

DimensionsOverall: 6 1/4 x 10 x 9 1/8 in. (15.9 x 25.4 x 23.2 cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineBequest of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde

Object number1971.217.1

On View

Not on view

Collections

Decorative Arts

DescriptionThese brightly colored, glazed terracotta baskets of fruit are not simply decorative domestic objects. They promise fertility, abundance, and prosperity for their owners, and imaginatively suggest sweet smells, always desired in Renaissance households. More specifically, they recall "Dovizia" (Abundance, Wealth), a famous Donatello sculpture originally in Florence’s open market square, now lost. Numerous surviving paintings, prints, and sculptures record "Dovizia’s" original appearance: a female in classicizing dress personifying prosperity and riches holds a cornucopia and supports a basket of fruit on her head while small boys tug at her garment. The boys suggest yet another aspect of wealth’s meaning, beyond general fertility and abundance, for children were considered among the family’s most valuable possessions, even surpassing desire for financial wealth in mercantile Florence. The Hyde’s terracottas, similar to "Dovizia’s" basket, thus recall Donatello’s well-known prototype and its inscription: "May Honor and Wealth Be in Your Home." Giovanni della Robbia’s shop produced not only these popular fruit baskets, typically in pairs, as here, but also created small-sized terracotta replicas of Donatello’s sculpture "Dovizia," a number of copies of which are extant.

The Hyde’s baskets are similar to each other but distinct. Most evident: one includes a green frog among the fruits and vegetables (1971.217.1), while its pendant exhibits a salamander and snail (1971.217.2).

A recent conservation report suggests The Hyde’s terracottas are in "the style of della Robbia" and possibly date from the late sixteenth century.

Text by Penny Howell Jolly, Professor Emerita of Art History, Skidmore College, February 2026

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Basket of yellow glazed earthenware with polychrome glazed earthenware fruit and flowers and a green frog. Very similar to 1971.217.2 which does not have the frog.

Text from 2008Exhibition History"Family Pride: The Italian Renaissance House and its Furnishings," The Hyde Collection, April 12 - May 20, 1984.

"Masterpieces Under the Microscope", Whitney-Renz Gallery, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, July 2, 2019-September 15, 2019

"Celebrating 60 Years: The Collector Charlotte Pruyn Hyde," Hoopes Gallery, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, May 6-Sept. 17, 2023.

"Growing Up in a Renaissance Palazzo: Childhood in Italy 1400-1600," Charles R. Wood Gallery, The Hyde Collection, Oct. 5, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025.ProvenanceLuigi Orselli Collection
by 1921, New York, NY, American Art Association
1921, Glens Falls, NY, Mr. and Mrs. Louis F. Hyde
1963, Glens Falls, The Hyde Collection Trust, Bequest of Charlotte Pruyn Hyde