Labor Deruta Maiolica Footed Box, Bella Donna Portrait Lid, Blue & White

A round footed lidded box in Italian Deruta maiolica, hand-painted in cobalt blue and white on a tin-glazed earthenware body. The lower wall carries a bold band of acanthus leaf panels on a deep cobalt ground, resting on three small scrolled feet. The base is marked in underglaze blue: "LABOR / DERUTA," a workshop designation from one of Umbria's established ceramic production centers, active since the 15th century. The interior is plainly glazed — functional for desk, vanity, or tabletop use.

The lid is the selling point: a Renaissance-style female profile portrait — a bella donna in a patterned cap, flowing hair, and an ornamented collar — painted against a deep cobalt ground and framed by a twisted rope border. The testa di donna motif is one of the most recognizable and historically grounded decorative programs in Italian maiolica, traceable directly to 15th- and 16th-century workshop traditions in Deruta and Faenza. It's the piece that stops people mid-shelf-scan: the cobalt is saturated, the portrait confident, the form complete and intact — a combination that's genuinely harder to find than the market price suggests.

CONDITION

Very Good with no remarkable damage. Glaze is bright and the painted decoration is crisp throughout. Light kiln-stilt marks to the underside of the feet are consistent with standard maiolica production.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 4" H × 6¼" Diameter
• Material: Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
• Maker's mark: "LABOR / DERUTA" (hand-painted, underside)
• Origin: Deruta, Umbria, Italy
• Form: Footed lidded box — two pieces (body + lid)