This Cornelia Bella shallow bowl is stylistically extremely similar to a bowl inscribed Chasandra Bella, dated 1537, from the former Basilewski collects ion, today in the Hermitage Museum, and another in the Palazzo Madama in Turin (fig. 1). Both depict a woman in three-quarter bust to the right, wearing elegant balzos on their heads, one decorated with scrolling foliage and the other striped, in imitation of damask fabrics. In all three dishes, the figures look straight at the viewer. The facial features are also analogous: large eyes with well-defined pupils and irises, large ears, similar noses and lips, and high foreheads. Both the present dish and the example in the Hermitage are unusual in that they are both dated, the present bowl with a partially concealed number.

The Bella Donna Series

The “Bella Donna” series of maiolica dishes is one of the most charming genres of Renaissance maiolica production and belongs to an important category of ceramics representing female portraits in bust or half-length, either in profile, front, or three-quarter view accompanied by laudatory inscriptions. The women are most often dressed in contemporary Renaissance garb. Each image was decorated with an inscription on a banderole wrapping around or behind the bust, with a name and the word Bella or an abbreviation, the letter ‘B’. Traditionally, the dishes have slightly curved walls and each has a short foot on the underside.

It is believed that the main function of the series of dishes painted with the word “Bella” was to serve as a tribute to women, given by their intendeds as a token of love. The “Bella” typology can be seen in most of the important centers of maiolica production during the Renaissance; but the most refined pieces were produced in the Duchy of Urbino, notably in Castel Durante and Urbino.¹

Numismatics played an important role in maiolica production at this t.mes ; potters and painters were inspired by ancient and Renaissance coins and portrait.mes dals, largely because of the enthusiasm for classical Greek and Roman antiquities. Humanists also contributed to this craze with the formation of collects ions of portraits of heroic, legendary or historical characters and with the creation of galleries of antique busts, a number of which were published and disseminated through engravings and intaglios.

Count of Pourtalès-Gorgier (1776-1855)

The present Cornelia B bowl is documented back to 1842. It was part of the collects ion of Count James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, known as de Pourtalès-Gorgier (1776 - 1855), a Swiss banker, diplomat and art collects or. Coming from a wealthy Swiss Protestant family, James-Alexandre de Pourtalès, became lord of the municipality of Gorgier in 1813 and the following year the King of Prussia, Frederick William III, awarded him the title of count (fig. 2). From 1817 to 1840, he lived at 14 place Vendôme before building his hotel particulier at 7 rue Tronchet, which was inspired by a Florentine Renaissance palace and became a museum in which this bowl was exhibited. De Pourtalès-Gorgier's taste for collects ing antique objects began during his Grand Tour in 1802 in the company of the designer and antique dealer Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, a student of David. It was during these travels that he likely acquired the present piece.²

At the t.mes of his death in 1855, the count had indicated in his will that he wished to sell his entire collects ion at auction. The report of the sale given by La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité cites, among the jewels of this collects ion, the Cornelia Bella shallow bowl.³

Paul-Georges-Louis Berger (1834-1910)

The present bowl was sold for the sum of 300 Francs to Georges Berger, a collects or and scholar of French art, who later lent his maiolica to an exhibition at the Paris, Palais de la précédence du corps législatif, “Exposition en faveur de l’oeuvre des alsaciens et lorrains demeurés français”, 23 April 1874, t. X, p. 128, and was noted in an article about the exhibition cited by Albert Jacquemart in an article devoted to this exhibition:

 “M. Berger nous montre une magnifique coppa amatoria dédiée à Cornelia bella et où figure de trois quarts à droite de cette fière beauté. détaché sur un fond bleu; sur la tête un turban à larges bandes noires et rouge rubis répond au vêt.mes nt, rayé lui-mème de noir et de jaune d'or.”

Berger led the organization of the Universal Exhibitions of 1867 and 1878. In 1889 he was appointed Director General of Operations and received the distinction of Grand Officier de la Légion d'Honneur in the same year.⁴ The following year in 1890, he became president of the Central Union of Decorative Arts and organized the installation of the collects ions in the Pavillon de Marsan. He contributed to the formation of the Society of Friends of the Louvre in 1897 of which he was the first President. In 1903 he was named a member of the Academy of Replica Handbags s.

Charles Damiron (1868-1964)

Subsequently, the Cornelia Bella bowl then passed into the prestigious collects ion of Charles René Damiron from Lyon. Born in Lyon on November 17, 1868, he became a collects or particularly of ceramics. He was also a generous donor to the Musée des arts decoratifs, Lyon. In 1924, he received the Légion d'Honneur.⁵ Damiron sold a significant part of his collects ion of maiolica at Replica Shoes 's London in 1938 and later acquired part of the collects ion of maiolica from the antique dealer Imbert in Rome. Damiron continued to enrich his collects ion until 1944.

Jean-Pierre (1905-1991) and Christine Guerlain (1920-2016)

This bowl then passed into the collects ion of the great perfumer Jean-Pierre Guerlain and his wife, Christiane Guerlain, née Lesieur, collects or and patron of the arts.

¹ T. Wilson, The Golden Age of Italian Maiolica-Painting : catalogue of a private collects ion, Turin, 2018, p. 354
² A. Jacquemart, ‘Les Cabinets d’amateurs. La Galerie Pourtales,’ in Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1874, t.XVII, pp. 377-397
³ La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, no. 96, March 19, 1865, p. 98.
⁴ Paris, Archives nationales, base Leonore, Dossier LH/188/53
⁵ C. Damiron, Ma vie Passionnante de collects ionneur, Lyon, 1958.

We are grateful to Professor Timothy Wilson and Mrs. Greta Kaucher for their invaluable contributions to the research on this entry.