Floor tile - with putti -from the Santa Maria dei Piattalletti Church of Fano

The square tiles have triple leaf motifs in their corners. Five of them are decorated with a star in a round field framed by intertwined sticks and ribbons. The other four show the following pictures on landscape backgrounds: a putto, carrying a basket of fruit on his back a crouching dog, surmounted by rays and the inscription STA FORTE NO TEMOVARE a running rabbit, looking backward (on two tiles: on one the rabbit is blue, on the other it is yellow) and a breast-plate, with sword and axe. The tiles are painted in manganese, blue, green, orange and yellow against a greyish-white background. Six of these tiles were described by Eva S. Cserey she traced them to the Casa Pirota workshop of Faenza, and dated them between 1501-1510. Among the pieces made in the Casa Pirota workshop in Faenza are some well-known dishes with “berettino” decoration, made in the 1530's. Earlier pieces from the same workshop are not known it is also not known whether tiles were made in the workshop at all. Possibly the floor tiles made in Faenza between 1480-1490 and described by Forrer are from the same master as the ones in the collection of the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts. These tiles were made by master Bologniesus Betini, and certainly they show close similarity to the tiles described above. They are decorated with a panther and a rabbit looking backward.
On the basis of the style and technique it is more sensible to date the Hungarian tiles to the late 15th century, that is, much earlier than was suggested by Eva Cserey. The similar floor tiles in the collection of the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza may also be regarded as solid evidence of the earlier date. The Faenza tiles show a flower six petals and a running deer (Inv. Nos. 22008/c 17/e.s. and 22009/c 17bis/e.s. cf. Bojani 1985, p. 45, Nos. 74,75 and fig.). According to the authors all the tiles were made in the late 15th century.