Privates treaty sale

IT started as a joke, but at £240,000, it is now one of the most important pieces of ceramics to change hands in recent years. One of the most extraordinary pieces of maiolica in existence, the phallic plate, pictured right, whose purchase grant of £100,000 is the highest ever given by the National Art Collections Fund for a piece of ceramics, dates to about 1536 and is attributed to Francisco Urbino, one of the leading maiolica painters of the period.