Re: italian

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "G&P" <G.and.P@...> wrote:

> I came across a 15th century Italian plate in Tutbury castle with this
> inscription:
>
> ENONSE : PO : MANGIARE : SENZA : ?ATI?A
>
> I thought I could read early Italian, but this is beyond me.
> Can anyone help? There is a picture on it allegedly of Adam and Eve.

Not Adam and Eve but, most probably, nude children climbing a tree and gathering fruits. A maiolica dish made in Deruta, Umbria ca. 1475-1500,, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, provides a comparison. It shows two children clambering up a tree, and the legend "e no se po mangiare senza fatiga". In modern Italian this would read as "e non si può mangiare senza fatica", lit. 'and one cannot eat without toil'. This is an illustration of the Second Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians 3.10: "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" -- Holy Bible, King James Version).

See an image of the plate at

http://images.vam.ac.uk/item/O159917/dish/?print=1

Another similar Italian plate (without legend) at

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O8959/plateau/?print=1

The theme was apparently common in late-fifteenth century Italian maiolicas.

Best,
Francesco Brighenti