Lot Essay
The subject is traditionally described as Hercules slaying the Nemean Lion, but it could also depict Samson and the Lion. For a similar dish with the subject reversed (suggesting the subject was derived from a print source), see Bernard Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica, Illustrated Catalogue of a Private Collection (London, 1959), pl. 156A, no. 356. The subject's popularity is discussed by Dora Thornton and Timothy Wilson, Italian Renaissance Ceramics, a Catalogue of the British Museum Collection (London, 2009), Vol. II, pp. 493-495.