1550-1575

Jug with the Face of a Bearded Man

First produced in Europe in the German Rhineland and eastern Netherlands in the 1200s, stoneware, a ceramic that when fired to high temperatures becomes impervious to liquids, was an ideal material for drinking vessels. This vessel bears an inscription around the center of the body that reads: DREINCK UND EST GODES NIT VERGESTN (Drink and eat, but do not forget your God). The text offered a message to the user that reflects the importance of moral and religious concerns in everyday life. Such inscriptions appear frequently on Bartmann (bearded man) jugs made in Cologne, Frechen, and Siegburg during this period.