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Tankard: C.5-2023

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Unidentified Westerwald pottery

Entities

Categories

Description

Tankard (Stein), buff stoneware, with applied handle, incised and applied moulded relief decoration, painted in cobalt-blue and manganese-purple, and salt-glazed. Three identical rectangular cartouches depict Hector in Germanic armour, his right hand on a standing shield, surrounded by a scroll containing text. Below is a fictitious coat of arms flanked by putti. Three cobalt lines are incised above the cartouches, and four below.

Notes

History note: Not known prior to donor

Legal notes

Given by Dr and Mrs Glasscock

Place(s) associated

  • Westerwald ⪼ Germany

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (2023) by Glasscock, Robin E.

Dating

19th Century, Late-20th Century, Early#
C. 1880 - 1910

Note

Westerwald stoneware is a general term applied to cobalt-stained, salt-glazed utilitarian pottery that has been made since the 1500s in the Kannenbäckerland, or ‘Jug-Baking Country’— a small region of western Germany to the east of the Rhine, situated in the southwestern portion of the Westerwald mountain range. Known for its reliability and authenticity, it was traded globally until the later eighteenth-century, when it began to struggle to compete with other ceramics, most notably European porcelain. However, various technical innovations, including the introduction of ironstone in 1864, and the adaptation of mould-making technology after 1873, transformed the industry, allowing Westerwald wares to be made in moulds previously carved in intaglio with the relief motif, so that the vessel came out of the mould already complete with the decoration in relief moulded. This enabled production at a larger scale, which entirely reinvigorated this ceramic tradition. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Westerwald makers produced revivalist and historicist stoneware, copying a range of historic styles. Some makers copied Renaissance and Baroque styles whereas others reimagined elements of a more romantic, Gothic, past (as seen here).

School or Style

Revivalism

Components of the work

Decoration composed of cobalt oxide manganese oxide
Surface composed of salt-glaze

Materials used in production

grey Stoneware

Techniques used in production

Moulded
Painted
Turned
Thrown

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: Gerz factory mark

  • Text: [Jug inside a triangle]
  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Impressed
  • Type: Factory mark
  • Text: 759A
  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Impressed
  • Type: Model number

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.5-2023
Primary reference Number: 312366
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Wednesday 15 March 2023 Updated: Friday 9 June 2023 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Tankard" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/312366 Accessed: 2024-11-21 23:30:04

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/312366 |title=Tankard |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 23:30:04|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-312366

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