- Museum number
- 1855,1201.138
- Description
-
Stoneware, baluster jug, large; grey, cobalt blue decoration; salt-glazed; turned base; pewter lid-mount; strap handle; scrolled handle terminal; scallop-shell thumb-piece; neck - frieze, three grotesque roundel masks, interlace, serpents, strapwork; shoulder - lozenge diaper (Kerbschnitt) and feathered grooving, stamped linear foliage; moulded band separating central section from shoulder, impressed foliage; lower body - alternate grey and blue vertical ribbing; thick footing; body frieze - framed processional scene (Triumphal Procession of the Four Seasons), classical costume; monogram of Jan Emens.
- Production date
- 1589 (applied body frieze)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 110 millimetres (base)
-
Diameter: 71 millimetres (rim)
-
Height: 335 millimetres (max)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Gaimster 1997
Jug
Applied body frieze with the date 1589 and the ‘IE’ monogram of the potter Jan Emens
Large baluster jug with turned base and strap handle with scrolled terminal. Pewter rim-mount and flat lid with scallop-shell thumbpiece. Salt-glazed light grey stoneware with painted cobalt-blue decoration under the glaze.
Applied around the neck (although partly obscured by the rim-mount) with a frieze of portrait roundels separated by strapwork and serpents; and around the body with two large rectangular panels, one depicting Spring, the other Winter, in the Triumphal Procession of the Four Seasons, the figures in classical dress.
The shoulder of the vessel is incised with zones of carved diaper (Kerbschnitt) lower body with deep vertical gadrooning.
H: 335 mm
BIBL: Bernal Sale 1855, Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Works of Art … of that Distinguished Collector, Ralph Bernal, Christie’s, London, 5 March – 30 April, lot 2865.
LIT: von Falke, O. 1908, Das Rheinische Steinzeug (2 volumes), Berlin (reprint Osnabrück 1997), II, 86-7, on ‚Seasons‘ jugs made both at Raeren and in the Westerwald; ibid., I, figs 20-5, for the Virgil Solis source of the Seasons procession; see also O’Dell-Franke, I. 1977, Kupferstiche und Radierungen aus der Werkstatt des Virgil Solis, Wiesbaden, cat. e.6 (Spring) and e.9 (Winter) and Ill. B: The Illustrated Bartsch, New York, 1978-(W. Smith, ed. Until 1988; J. T. Spike, ed. From 1988) 19, 133-133c (Spring) and 136-136c (Winter) for original Virgil Solis engravings.
COMP: Koetschau, K. 1924, Rheinisches Steinzeug, Munich, pl. 61, for identical body frieze on Westerwald jug; von Falke, O. 1908, Das Rheinische Steinzeug (2 volumes), Berlin (reprint Osnabrück 1997), II, figs 173 and 230 for identical body friezes, attributed to Raeren and the Westerwald respectively.
Chemical analysis (NAA) confirms that this vessel was not made at Raeren. Technologically and stylistically the Westerwald represents the most probable source of production although the analysis showed no direct link.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Broken rim repaired by pewter bracket mount. Chipped moulded bands.
- Acquisition date
- 1855
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1855,1201.138
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: BL.2865 (Bernal Collection)
