Greybeard Jug
maker
Unknown
Dateearly 17th century
Place MadeFrechen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Europe
MediumSalt-glazed stoneware
Dimensions43.2 cm (17 in.)
ClassificationsVessels
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberC21s8
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryNicknamed "Greybeard Jugs" for their caricature-like masks, these seventeenth-century stoneware bottles produced in northern Europe were popular containers for liquids thanks to their impervious salt glaze. Brought across the Atlantic during the Revolutionary War, this pot was discovered by a Boston construction firm in the 1870s while digging foundations on the former site of the Brattle Square Church (today City Hall), a building occupied by British troops in 1775. Here in the Dutch Room, elevated on a cabinet into the array of distinguished portraits, the hairy, wild man pokes fun at the serious aristocrats he accompanies.
Id730159
Last Updated8/14/24
EmbARK ObjectID12902
Source ID1950
