German stoneware ‘Bartmann' jug with rose leaves and rosettes

The bartmann jug was most likely used for the consumption of alcoholic beverages, like beer or (perhaps) wine. Jugs from the first half of the sixteenth century, like the present jug, typically have a wide neck and are relatively small in size, making these pitchers suitable for drinking immediately. Because they were tableware they were luxurious and richly decorated. The bartmann jugs from later times, at the end of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are not too small, have a narrow neck and are well suited as a stock jar. Bartmann jugs (also known as Brown Frechen or Bellarmine) are most well-known for the distinctive feature of a bearded figure on the neck of the jugs. The jugs were in great demand in Europe since the middle ages. They were made in Germany from 1500-1770, originally produced in Cologne but shortly after in more places in the Rhineland, notably Cologne, Frechen, Langerwehe, Raeren and Westerwald. The natural circumstances in these areas were excellent for the pottery industry, especially the type of fine, clean clay. In the high temperature needed to fire the stoneware pottery, the elements of this clay ‘melted’ together, making the fabric stone hard and completely watertight. Such stoneware was therefore excellently suited as a container or tableware for liquids. The stoneware vessels were relief-decorated with bearded face-masks in combination with various other decorations, such as floral elements, medallions or even aphoristic slogans. 

 

An example of a bartmannjug with a similar decoration is mentioned in Ingeborg Unger, Die Kunst des deutschen Steinzeugs: Collection Karl und Petra Amendt und der Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Krefeld 2013, figure 5, page 38.