Pharmacy jar: C.181-1991

Maker(s)

Maker: Unidentified Florence pottery (Probably)
Maker: Unidentified Siena pottery (Perhaps)

Entities

• Pharmacy jar

Categories

• Tin-glazed earthenware
• Maiolica

Description

Renaissance maiolica pharmacy jar, painted in blue with, round the sides, geometrical ornament between horizontal bands.

Pharmacy jar with one handle. Buff earthenware. Tin-glazed on both sides, the interior now pale beige; base unglazed. Painted in blue.
Albarello, with sloping shoulders, cylindrical neck with slightly everted rim, and, on one side, a small strap handle.
Round the sides between horizontal bands, is a broad zone of geometrical ornament comprising debased Kufic, knots and cross-hatched rectangular and irregular shapes. On the shoulder and round the lower part of the jar there are groups of vertical strokes alternating with stylised plants; on the neck, trellis pattern between horizontal bands.

Notes

History note: Cecil Leitch & Kerin Ltd., London, from whom purchased on 7 October 1932 by H.S. Reitlinger (d.1950); the Reitlinger Trust, Maidenhead, from which transferred in 1991.

Legal notes

H.S. Reitlinger Bequest, 1950; transferred from the Reitlinger Trust, 1991

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1991-04-29) by Reitlinger, Henry Scipio

Dating

15th Century
Renaissance
Circa 1440 CE - 1460 CE

Note

This jar belongs to a group of Italo-Moresque albarelli decorated mainly in blue with debased pseudo-Kufic script, knots and cross-haatched shapes. An albarello of this type without a handle is held by Saint Clare in an altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints Peter Damian, Thomas, Clare and Ursula by Giovanni di Paolo (c. 1400-82) in the Pinacoteca Nazionale, Siena. It was painted after 1453 and therefore supports a mid-fifteen century date for this group. It also gives rise to speculation that this group of jars might have been made in Siena.