Two-handled jar: C.71-1927

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown (District of)

Entities

• Two-handled jar
• two-handled storage jar
• two-handled pharmacy jar

Categories

• Tin-glazed earthenware
• Maiolica

Description

Renaissance, maiolica two-handled storage or pharmacy jar, painted in dark relief-blue and manganese with long-tailed birds, oak leaves, dots and lines.

Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed creamy-white on the interior and exterior; base unglazed. Painted in dark relief-blue with manganese outlines. Poole, 1995, Shape 42. Ovoid with flat base, short cylindrical neck and two strap handles.
On each side, a long-tailed bird struts in profile to right, surrounded by sprays of oak leaves with dots in the background. On each side of the handles there are three vertical manganese lines, blue undulations and manganese scalloped lines. Round the lower part of the body there are two horizontal manganese bands; on the neck, alternating chevrons and blue spots between pairs of manganese bands. On each handle there are horizontal manganese lines and blue spots, with below, an inverted oak leaf and dots, and above, three spots and dots. On one handle the spots are linked by lines to form an asterisk.

Notes

History note: Private collection, London; Alfred Spero, London, from whom purchased on 7 May 1925 by F. Leverton Harris.

Legal notes

F. Leverton Harris Bequest

Place(s) associated

• Florence ⪼ Tuscany ⪼ Italy

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1926) by Harris, Frederick Leverton

Dating

15th Century#
Renaissance
Circa 1420 CE - 1450 CE

Note

This jar is decorated in relief-blue also known as zaffera a rilievo. The pigment was made by mixing imported cobalt-blue and lead, which did not sink into the tin-glaze, and produced a glossy upstanding effect when fired.