Tall cylindrical tankard gently tapering to mouth, salt-glazed stoneware, with strap handle and ribs or cordons at base and top. A hinged silver-gilt lid embossed with flowers is attached by a metal mount to the handle. The tankard is decorated with applied relief-moulded panels with scenes in separate compartments, including the Fall and the parable of Dives and Lazarus.

Tall cylindrical tankard gently tapering from foot to mouth, in dark grey stoneware with dark brown wash under an overall lustrous salt-glaze, with strap handle and ten ribs or cordons at the base; eleven at the top. A hinged silver-gilt lid embossed with a floral design is attached by a metal mount bearing a design of fronds and an angel (?) to the top of the handle. The central part of the tankard is decorated with large applied relief-moulded panels with scenes in separate compartments. The main scene in the large central panel shows a man and woman dining at a table bearing vessels such as glass Stangen with clearly visible prunts. In front of the table is a character who could be a court jester with a stick and a dog licks the sores of a poor man who holds out a cup. Beneath this scene is the inscription 'O ARME LASEROS' (Oh, poor Lazarus) which confirms that the story is that of Dives and Lazarus. After the inscription are the maker's initials 'Ie' for 'Jan Emens' and the number '8'. To the right of the central scene, a servant approaches the table with what seems to be bread under a wrap, and to the left of the scene two musicians facing the table play their instruments. In the compartment below the musicians, is a scene of Adam and Eve being tempted by the serpent (Satan) to take fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, as described in Genesis chapter 3.
The parable of Dives and Lazarus is told in Luke 16:19-31. Jesus described a rich man (sometimes named "Dives" i.e. the Latin for 'rich man') who dressed in fine clothes and ate sumptuously every day. At his gate lay a beggar, Lazarus, who was full of sores which the dogs licked. He longed to be fed from the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. The beggar died and was taken by angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man then died and from the flames of hell asked Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue with water. Abraham replied that Lazarus was now comforted and the rich man tormented and the gulf between them could not be bridged. The rich man therefore asked Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers. Abraham refused, explaining that as his brothers had paid no attention to the words of Moses and the Prophets, they would not be persuaded even if someone should rise from the dead.

formerly in the Weckherlin Collection

This type of tall cylindrical tankard is known in German as a 'Schnelle'. It was used for drinking beer from - the hinged metal lid was to protect the contents and enrich the appearance of the stoneware vessel, and would have been flicked into an upright open position with the thumb to allow access to the contents.

Raeren then Germany, now Belgium

This type of tall cylindrical tankard is known in German as a 'Schnelle' and was used for beer-drinking. The addition here of a hinged silver-gilt lid enriched the appearance of the stoneware vessel, increasing its status as a luxury item. Decorated wares, especially with attractively embossed precious metal lids were made for owners of high social status. This tankard is decorated with applied relief-moulded panels, the main scene showing a rich man and woman dining at a table on which such a tankard would not have looked out of place. The scene here represents the parable told by Jesus in Luke chapter 16, in which the rich man, denies the poor man, Lazarus, food and drink from his table.
The tankard was made in the 1570s in the workshop of the skilled stoneware potter Jan Emens Mennicken, in the village of Raeren, then in Germany but now just inside Belgium.
Raeren wares were the most commonly exported of German stonewares in the early part of the16th century, but from the middle of the century, the Mennicken pottery concentrated on selling more expensive and ornate wares to the German middle and upper classes. The tankard was formerly in the Weckherlin Collection, objects from which formed the core of the South Kensington (now V&A) Museum's German stoneware collection on their acquisition in 1868.

777-1868