Unidentified Westerwald pottery
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.
History note: Not known prior to donor
Given by Dr and Mrs Glasscock
Method of acquisition: Given (2023) by Glasscock, Robin E.
19th Century, Late-20th Century, Early#
C.
1880
-
1910
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).
Decoration
composed of
cobalt oxide
manganese oxide
Surface
composed of
salt-glaze
grey Stoneware
Inscription present: Gerz factory mark
Accession number: C.5-2023
Primary reference Number: 312366
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Tankard" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/312366 Accessed: 2024-12-22 22:45:15
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/312366
|title=Tankard
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 22:45:15|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-312366
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...