Bartmann jug

A Bartmann jug (from German Bartmann, "bearded man"), also called Bellarmine jug, is a type of decorated stoneware that was manufactured in Europe throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, especially in the Cologne region in what is today western Germany. The signature decorative detail was a bearded face mask appearing on the lower neck of the vessel. They were made as jugs, bottles and pitchers in various sizes and for a multitude of uses, including storage of food or drink, decanting wine and transporting goods.

Stoneware was a key export product of Germany in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period and was shipped to markets in Northern and Eastern Europe, the British Isles and later to colonies in North America and Asia. One of the largest centers of stoneware production was located in the Rhineland around the city of Cologne and the nearby towns of Altenrath, Siegburg and Frechen. Like other German stoneware of the period, it was characterized by relief decoration through the use of mould techniques. Various patterns and motifs were used throughout different periods and regions, and one of the most distinct and well-known was the bearded facemask (German: Bartmaske) used most frequently by Cologne and especially Frechen potters in the 16th and 17th centuries to decorate the necks of stoneware bottles, jugs and pitchers. The image of the bearded face is believed to have originated in the mythical wild man creature, popular in northern European folklore from the 14th century, and later appearing as an illustration on everything from manuscript illuminations to metalworkings.

The popular alternative name "Bellarmine" is recorded earliest in 1634, and is in popular tradition associated with the cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), a fierce opponent of Protestantism in the Low Countries and northern Germany. The reason for the association with Bellarmino is not entirely clear but was possibly conceived by Dutch and English Protestants to ridicule the cardinal. Another possibility is his anti-alcohol stance.

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