Images(7)

Jug

Date1720-1740

OriginEurope, Germany, Westerwald, Hohr-Grenzhausen

MediumSalt-glazed stoneware, salt-glazed, gray with purple and blue

DimensionsOverall: 12 5/8 x 10 1/16 x 9 3/16in. (32.1 x 25.6 x 23.3cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1961-290

DescriptionJug: horizontally reeded cylindrical, manganese neck; globular body elongated towards the base central applied medallion with crown above a blue "GR"; above and below central band of trellis incises and filled in with cobalt, are similar designs incorporating 2 birds, a sun burst and scrolls on a cobalt ground. Five holes in handle, some for mount for cover never attached. "SW" is also found within the "GR" medallion.
Label TextThe pattern of this jug with its fanciful birds closely resembles shards found at the Carter’s Grove plantation site on the James River in Virginia.

As with “HPW/1724” marked jugs, the “SW” jugs feature a range of dating characteristics suggesting that the molded badges in question were used for an extended period, perhaps spanning from circa 1715 to 1740 or even longer. Franz Baaden of the Dokumentationszentrums Kannenbäckerland [Documentation Center of the Jug Bakers’ Land] has suggested that “HPW” might represent either the potter Hans Peter Welems (Willems) from Ransbach in the Westerwald or possibly a member of the extensive family of potters named Wingender who populated the area encompassing modern-day Höhr-Grenzhausen. Gerd Kessler of the Keramikmuseum Westerwald [Westerwald Ceramics Museum] has noted that a Servatius Wingender, born in 1691 in Höhr, would have been the appropriate age to be potting in the early eighteenth century, but definitive identification of “HPW” and “SW” remains elusive.
Inscribed"sw" in small raised letters to the right of the winged cherub on the bottom of the GR badge.
ProvenancePurchased from Avis & Rockwell Gardiner, American Antiques, Stamford, CT, 1961.

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