Gifting Vessels Maintain The Friendship – Thoughts About Pictorial Messages On Rhenish Bartmann Jugs

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Bartmann Goes Global - Exploring the Cultural Contexts, Meaning and Use of Bellarmine Jugs Across the Globe", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Rhenish Bartmann jugs were a bestseller in European early modern times. Besides the iconic bearded men, these jugs displayed a wide variety of typical pictures, the earliest of them based on the work of the so-called „German Littlemasters“ like Virgel Solis (1515 – 1562) and Jost Amman (1539 – 1591). This study aims to show different pictorial combination patterns that occur on these types of vessels produced between ca. 1575 and 1600 in the well-known production center of Siegburg near Bonn. In addition to offering insights into the variety of pictures on Siegburg’s Bellarmine jugs, those images provide new hints on the vessels’ functions as some of them were for instance used diplomatically as presents. Also, the research compares the range of pictorial symbols and themes on vessels in other Rhenish production centers such as Frechen and Raeren by addressing similarities and differences.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bartmann Goes Global - Exploring the Cultural Contexts, Meaning and Use of Bellarmine Jugs Across the Globe   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow