Pilgrim bottle

Physical description

Bottle, earthenware, moulded in relief on one side with a grotesque smiling woman's mask, the edge on the same side being notched into a cable pattern and there are two suspension loops at the top. It is painted in copper green and yellowish-brown. The mask, of which details are incised, is surrounded by an incised wreath of serrated oval leaves. There is a ribbon pattern round the side and the back is plain.

Place of Origin

Ferrara, Italy (possibly, made)
Bologna, Italy (possibly, made)

Date

about 1500 (made)

Artist/maker

Unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Incised slipware earthenware

Dimensions

Height: 21.5 cm

Object history note

Purchase price note: Bought for £7 10s.

Historical context note

Rackham describes this 'pilgrim bottle' as of uncertain origin but probably made at Bologna about 1500 to 1520.

The form of this 'pilgrim bottle' is more like 15th century ones rather than the flask shape with side loop handles characteristic of late 16th and 17th century ones (see Cora in References). The egg-shaped serrated leaves on scrolling tendrils as seen surrounding the face on this bottle is also found on large display dishes now attributed to Ferrara manufacture of the late 15th to early 16th century. Fragments with relief decoration have been found in Bologna although not associated with kiln sites.

Descriptive line

Red earthenware covered with white slip, a woman's face moulded in relief and with incised foliated ornament. The whole painted with green and yellow-brown and covered with a clear glaze. Italian, Bologna or Ferrara, about 1500.

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

Rackham, Bernard, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, Victoria & Albert Museu,. London, 1077
cat.1396
Cora, Galeazzo, Storia della maiolica di Firenze e del contado. Secoli XIV e XV, Florence, 1973
tav.322a-b

Labels and date

Pilgrim bottle
Made in Italy
Incised slipware

109-1882 [16/07/2008]

Materials

Earthenware

Categories

Ceramics

Collection code

CER