Jar thumbnail 1
Jar thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 143, The Timothy Sainsbury Gallery

Jar

ca. 1520 to 1540 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This large jar may have been used to store dry goods, possibly medicaments used to treat ailments. We know from contemporary illustrations that jars of this size and shape were used by pharmacists to store drugs on shelves in their premises.

The decoration of large leaves around the centre of this jar is heavily carved through the slip coating. This reveals a great deal of the clay body underneath. On this jar, the carved slip design has been painted with copper-green to contrast with the clay body.

Potters in northern Italy combined fine incising with heavy carving to produce a distinctive foreground and background. In this they were inspired by Middle Eastern designs. Sgraffito is an Italian word meaning 'scratched'. It refers to the technique of scratching through an upper layer of one material to reveal a ground of different colour beneath.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Red earthenware covered with a white slip and carved and incised decoration
Brief description
Red earthenware covered with a white slip and with decoration carved out of the slip. The slip painted green and the whole covered with a yellowish glaze. Italy, possibly Padua, about 1520 to 1540
Physical description
Globular drug pot of red earthenware with white slip and carved and incised decoration. Painted in green and covered with clear glaze. Around the middle there is a band of foliage on scrolled stems and 'gadroons' around the base; additionally, there are two bands of leaf pattern on the neck.
Dimensions
  • Height: 29.2cm
  • Diameter: 27.5cm
  • Weight: 3.360kg
Gallery label
22 Large vase or drug pot Italy, possibly Padua (Veneto), 1520-40 The potter confined the green pigment to the stylised leaf design. The red body is shown to good effect by the clear glaze covering the deeply carved background. Museum no. 4621-1858((TAB) 2009)
Object history
First described as North Italian about 1500 and then as Padua, 16th century.
Rackham describes it as of uncertain origin but says perhaps Padua as there is a dish showing the same technique in the Museo Civico in Padua.
Historical context
Rackham attributes this jar to Padua based on the similarity of its technique with a dish in the museum at Padua.
Subject depicted
Summary
This large jar may have been used to store dry goods, possibly medicaments used to treat ailments. We know from contemporary illustrations that jars of this size and shape were used by pharmacists to store drugs on shelves in their premises.

The decoration of large leaves around the centre of this jar is heavily carved through the slip coating. This reveals a great deal of the clay body underneath. On this jar, the carved slip design has been painted with copper-green to contrast with the clay body.

Potters in northern Italy combined fine incising with heavy carving to produce a distinctive foreground and background. In this they were inspired by Middle Eastern designs. Sgraffito is an Italian word meaning 'scratched'. It refers to the technique of scratching through an upper layer of one material to reveal a ground of different colour beneath.
Bibliographic references
  • Hildyard, Robin. European Ceramics. London : V&A Publications, 1999. 144 p., ill. ISBN 185177260X
  • Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of Italian Maiolica, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1940
  • C. Drury E. Fortnum, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Maiolica in the South Kensington Museum, London, 1873
Collection
Accession number
4621-1858

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Record createdNovember 18, 2002
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