Apothecary Jar with Gothic Leaf Motif, c. 1460–90

By the late fifteenth century, polychrome wares had replaced the more limited palette of Severe-style majolica, adding new shades of gold and green. Plant forms predominated, particularly an elegantly scrolled “Gothic-floral” leaf—a motif often combined with a wavy ray pattern associated with San Bernardino of Siena, as on this two-handled example from Faenza.