The vase is painted with the mythical scene of the god Apollo pursuing Daphne, the daughter of Peneus, a river god.
She is in the process of changing into a laurel bush, her arms sprouting branches and her feet roots, in order to escape Apollo’s amorous attentions.
The reverse of the vase is painted with a different view of the same subject, as Peneus surveys the scene.
It is taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses; a favourite source for Italian maiolica painters throughout the 16th Century.
The double snake handles, which have been restored, emerge from bearded grotesque masks and the base is a wooden replacement of the original, 50.5cm.
