A design for a salver

A photograph of a pen and ink drawing depicting a design for a salver now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (inv. no. WA1846.35), where it is attributed to Giovanni Francesco Penni. Annotated on the verso.

As Parker (see Bibliographic References) writes in the catalogue of the Italian drawings at the Ashmolean Museum, the attribution of this drawing has been disputed: Woodburn and Ruland (1876) attributed to Raphael, Passavant to Penni, while Robinson and later Crowe and Cavalcaselle believed it to be by Giulio Romano, the attribution agreed with by Parker.

According to Ruland (1876) and Passavant (see Bibliographic References) Agostino Chigi commissioned designs from Raphael for two salvers to be executed in bronze by Cesarino da Urbino. As the evidence for this commission dates from as early as 1510, Parker specifies that this drawing, if attributed to Giulio Romano, could not be linked to this specific commission. He also believes that the drawing should be dated around the time of the execution of the Farnesina frescoes, in particular the Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche (c.1518).

For photographs of designs for salvers, see RCINs 854247, 854248 and 854250.