JVV 0177
Delft, 1680-1700
The pear-shaped beer mug with pewter lid stands on a short foot and has an ear-shaped handle that ends in a rat tail. It is painted in blue with a continuous landscape with plants, flowers and a peacock. A second peacock and a bird fly in the sky. The representation is bordered at the top and bottom by lines and bands with scroll ornaments and point circles. Short stripes are applied to the sides of the handle. The flat-round lid is connected to the handle with a two-jaw hinge, and has a spherical thumb rest. A wreath is engraved on the lid with the initials ER and the year 1700 in between. The foot of the beer mug is set in a pewter foot ring. Lid and foot ring are connected by a bracket that extends over the entire handle. The lid is possibly a later replacement.
Dimensions: height 20 cm / 7.87 in., with lid 23 cm / 9.05 in., diameter 13 cm / 5.11 in.
Similar examples
An AK-marked beer mug from the Greek A pottery with a related decor is in the collection of the National Ceramics Museum in Sèvres, France (Lahaussois, p. 103, no. 51). Four other beer mugs, one of which is marked GK for Gerrit Kam of the Three Porcelain Ash Barrels, are part of the collection of the Grassi Museum of Applied Art in Leipzig, Germany (Rudi, p. 261, no. 416, p. 276, no. 458, p. 281, n’s. 472, 473).
Explanatory note
Faience beer mugs were made in the Netherlands from the middle of the seventeenth century. The shape was taken from pewter specimens. The production of the beer mug was particularly extensive in the seventeenth century. Production seems to stop in the second quarter of the eighteenth century: hardly any beer mugs are known after that time. The decor of a peacock in a landscape or garden is derived from decorations on Chinese porcelain, and was frequently painted on Delftware in the last decades of the seventeenth century. In addition to beer mugs, it was also applied to wine jugs, vases, plates and dishes.
Literature
C. Lahaussois, Faïences de Delft, Paris 1998
T. Rudi, Europäische Fayencen 17.-18. Jahrhundert. Bestands- und Verlustkatalog Grassi Museum für Angewandte Kunst Leipzig, Leipzig 2017
