Bartmann jug

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.

[2] 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.

Many other type of ornamental patterns were used including sobering religious maxims such as DRINCK VND EZT GODEZ NIT VERGEZT, “Drink and eat, forget not God”.

[8] The Dutch East India Company routinely used Bartmann jugs to transport mercury, evidence of which has been found at shipwreck sites in the North Sea and as far away as Western Australia.

[9] Frechen Bartmann bottles dating from the mid 17th century have been found in graves of native inhabitants in colonial North America, near the Warren River in Rhode Island and in Camden, Virginia.