Antique pottery from " Siege of Smerwick"

bogwalrus

I purchased a piece of pottery from the old station house in Blenerville, tralee last week and have been uncovering some very interesting things that i feel relate the item to the italian forces sent by the pope and william fitzmaurice in 1580 to defeat the earl of desmond.


Firstly here is the item in question.








I'll start with the mark under the piece of pottery. There is a letter "p" with the top of the letter having two more lines.

Here is a link to the mark which shows it to be made in Caffaggiolo 15th century Florence.

http://www.oldandsold.com/pottery/italy1.shtml

Here is some information on Caffaggiolo, palace of Medici's

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles05/pottery21.shtml

Here is a piece that describes my piece very well and leads me to believe it is 15/16th century.

"The early ware was never mezzo, but it was sometimes enamelled on the top surface only, and always decorated in blue under a rich, even pure glaze, with borders and designs somewhat resembling fourteenth-century woodcuts."


Now here is some information on the Siege

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Smerwick

"The Siege of Smerwick took place at Ard na Caithne (formerly known as Smerwick) in 1580, during the Second Desmond Rebellion in Ireland. A 400–500 strong force of Papal soldiers (Spanish and Italian troops) captured the town but were forced to retreat to nearby Dún an Óir, where they were besieged by the English Army. The defenders eventually surrendered and most of them were then massacred on the orders of the English commander, the Lord Deputy of Ireland,"


I believe this piece of pottery was brought to Ireland by that fleet and ended up a few miles down the road where it has remained for quite some time.


I also found this interesting article about archaeology related to this siege:

http://www.kerryhistory.ie/documents/4.%20D%C3%BAn%20an%20%C3%93ir.pdf



What do you think my next steps should be if this piece is indeed of historical significance. The art on the piece is faded but in its day must have been amazing. Extremely fine even!!

bogwalrus

here are two images of the only marks i could find.

this pic is sideways so tilt your head to the right. The symbol is a "P" and maybe "s". This mark is the symbol of carraggiolo in Florence.



This could be the fleur di luis?

slowburner

bogwalrus wrote: »

What do you think my next steps should be if this piece is indeed of historical significance.

Your next step should be to contact the National Museum. Ask for the duty archaeologist.

1890 687386 or 01 6777444

They are most helpful.

slowburner

Let us know how you get on.
It's an interesting find, and you've done some great research.

bogwalrus

Will do. Dropping it off at Kerry museum next week. I found some more interesting things.

The earls of Desmond were the firzgeralds. They are related to the Italian gehardini family. The most famous member of this family being Lisa gehardini, the girl in the Mona Lisa.

The time lines are very interesting as the earls were coming to the end of the reign around 1550 and made contact with their Italian relatives. I wonder if Lisa ever met one of her Fitzgerald relatives.

When im on my pc I will put up some links related to this.

Dr Strange

You could also contact Isabel Bennett, Curator of the West Kerry Museum in Ballyferriter (Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne): http://www.westkerrymuseum.com/bearla/home.htm

She worked on some excavations around the Smerwick sites and also on some historical aspects of the Massacre at Smerwick Harbour.

There is a more recent account in 'Atrocity and history: Grey, Spenser and the slaughter at Smerwick (1580) by Vincent P. Carey, in: Age of Atrocity - Violence and political conflict in early modern Ireland, Edwards D, Lenihan P, Tait C (eds.), Four Courst Press, 2010. (here's a link to a PDF document someone put online, pages 5-11 provide Carey's chapter: http://www.univie.ac.at/igl.geschichte/mcloughlin/ws_2012/ku/Summary%20Smerwick.pdf).

bogwalrus

any ideas on the material of the lid?

Its not metal but clay but still are very clean and dark lid with metal oxides. Trying to place a date really