  About the Artwork
  
  
  In Renaissance Italy parturition or birthing sets were used to serve nourishing food—such as meat broth—to women confined to bed during pregnancy and after childbirth. These sets generally consisted of five or more pieces, including various bowls, a tray, a saltcellar, and a pierced cover, all of which fit together in a baluster form when not in use. This set, preserving three pieces, is the largest surviving example.
The painted decoration on each piece depicts a scene in a bedchamber immediately following birth: bathing, swaddling, and nursing the newborn infant. Lively “grotesques,” typical of the maiolica workshop of Orazio Fontana in Urbino, fill the remaining surfaces.
  
  
  Title
  Childbirth Set
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. between 1560 and 1570
  
  Artist
  Attributed to Fontana Workshop
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1500-1700
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Italian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Tin-glazed earthenware with enamel decoration
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 1/2 × 6 7/8 inches (1.3 × 17.5 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Ceramics
  
  
  Department
  European Sculpture and Dec Arts
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford II Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  59.124.B
  
  
  Copyright
  Public Domain
