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Jug
Unknown - Enlarge image
Jug
- Place of origin:
Westerwald (made)
- Date:
ca. 1680 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Salt-glazed stoneware, with applied moulded relief decoration and incised decoration
- Credit Line:
Given by James Falcke
- Museum number:
C.746-1923
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 13
Object Type
Globular ale or beer mugs had been imported into England from Germany since the end of the 15th century. Their practical form and tough material were perfectly adapted to their use. Stoneware mugs of this shape made in England were known as 'gorges'.
Time
By 1680, brown stoneware mugs were already being made at Fulham and the market for such imports from Frechen in Germany sharply declined. Potters in the Westerwald area of Germany, however, continued to make their plain grey or grey and blue stonewares for the English market until well into the 18th century.
Design & Designing
All-over trailing plant decoration has a long history in European ceramics, from the painted Italian maiolica oak-leaf jars of the 15th century to Staffordshire teapots of the mid-18th century. It can be expanded to fit any size of globular pot. On this mug, the use of metal sprig-moulds to apply the flowers and simple incised lines to represent the stalks has reduced the decoration to a semi-skilled process.
