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Drug jar

Drug jar

  • Place of origin:

    Valencia, Spain (made)

  • Date:

    1450-1475 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration

  • Museum number:

    10-1907

  • Gallery location:

    Making Ceramics, room 143, case 11, shelf 2

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Jars of this type were used in wealthy households for the storage for dried fruits such as raisins. They were sealed with a piece of parchment tied around the neck with a piece of string. The waisted sides make it easier to grip the jar.

Lustre-decorated ceramics were exported in quantities to Italy. From about 1450, Italian potters copied decorative motifs and shapes from Valencian imports. Initially they used orange or purple alongside blue to achieve similar colour combinations and designs until they fully mastered the lustre technique around 1500.

Physical description

Tall waisted drug-jar. Tin-glazed earthenware, decorated with an ivy leaf pattern painted in blue and lustre.

Place of Origin

Valencia, Spain (made)

Date

1450-1475 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration

Dimensions

Height: 29.1 cm, Diameter: 13 cm

Object history note

Purchase. Formerly Henry Wallis Collection.

Descriptive line

Drug jar, made in Valencia, Spain, about 1450-75 or later, tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Ray, Anthony. Spanish Pottery 1248-1898. London : V&A Publications, 2000, p. 87, cat. 187

Labels and date

Drug jar
Made in Valencia, Spain about 1450-75 or later
Tin-glazed earthenware with lustre decoration

10-1907 Formerly Henry Wallis Collection [16/07/2008]

Production Note

ca. 1450-75 or later. Three drug-jars of this type are in the Musee de Cluny (inv. nos. 2778, 2756, 2757), see Montagut, 'Reflejos de Manises', Valencia 1996, p.82. They are similarly decorated with the blue and lustre ivy leaf motif in horizontal bands, separated every two lines by horizontal lines of blue. Montagut dates them to the last quarter of the 15th century.

Categories

Ceramics

Collection code

MES

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Qr_O159282
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