Ewer: C.21-1991

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unidentified Orvieto pottery (Possibly)
Pottery: Unidentified Lazio pottery (Possibly)

Entities

• Ewer

Categories

• Lead-glazed earthenware

Description

Late Medieval, lead-glazed earthenware ewer, painted underglaze in black and green with horizontal lobed leaves.

Pale yellowish-buff earthenware; the interior and exterior covered with clear lead-glaze; base unglazed. Painted underglaze in black and copper-green.
Shape 4. Ovoid body with flat base, cylindrical neck flaring towards the rim, pinched spout and broad strap handle.
The sides are decorated with four horizontal lobed leaves, reserved in a green ground surrounded by double contour lines, and more green ground with two black horizontal bands above and below. On the neck there are wide green strokes flanked by black, and a round eye on each side of the spout. The handle has three black-edged green horizontal stripes.

Notes

History note: From the collection of Signor Avvocato Marcioni or Cavaliere Capitano Lucatelli of Orvieto; Sotheby's, 16 February 1914, Catalogue of the collections of early Italian pottery formed by Signor Avvocato Marcioni and Cavaliere Capitano Lucatelli of Orvieto, lot 54 & pl. II. Purchased from Kerin, London, on 9 December 1933 by H.S. Reitlinger; the Reitlinger Trust.

Legal notes

H.S. Reitlinger Bequest, 1950

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1950) by Reitlinger, Henry Scipio

Dating

13th Century
Medieval
Circa 1200 CE - 1300 CE

Note

Jugs of this shape vary considerably in their proportions, some being much more bulbous than others. The lower parts are usually decorated with stylized foliage, and the necks with broad curved lines, sometimes with a lily on the front and rounded eyes on each side of the spout. A smaller example with eyes, attributed to Viterbo is in the Palazzo di Venezia, Rome (PV 1376). See also C.22-1991, C.23-1991, and C.24-1991.

Probably made in Orvieto or a town in Northern Lazio, but given the provenance of the jug, it is more likely to have been the former.