Maiolica and Faience

Timothy Wilson was Keeper of Western Art in the Ashmolean Museum from 1990 and Professor of the Arts of the Renaissance in the University of Oxford. From 2013 to 2017 he was Barrie and Deedee Research Keeper in the Ashmolean. He is a specialist in the decorative arts of the European Renaissance, especially ceramics. His publications on Italian maiolica include catalogues of the collections in the British Museum (2009, with Dora Thornton), the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2015), and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2016). Matthew Winterbottom is Assistant Keeper and Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum’s Department of Western Art. He has over 30 years of experience of working in museums, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal Collection, and Holburne Museum, Bath. He has a wide knowledge of European decorative arts from the late 15th century to the present day, including ceramics, metalwork, glass, furniture, and textiles. He is a Supernumerary Fellow of St John’s College, Oxford. Francesca Leoni has been curator of Islamic art at the Ashmolean Museum since 2011, following curatorial and research roles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2008–2011), Rice University (2008–2010), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007–2008). Her recent books include the co-edited volume Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice (Leiden, 2020), Aegean Legacies: Greek Island Embroideries from the Ashmolean Museum (London, 2021) and the forthcoming exhibition catalogue In Bloom: How Plants Shaped Our World (Oxford, 2026).