Apothecary Jar

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Workshop of Orazio Pompeii, Italy, c.1540–60

Tin-glazed maiolica, 330.2mm high

Ceramics play an important part in every culture as functional everyday objects and aesthetically beautiful artworks. Italian Renaissance maiolica wares (tin-glazed pottery) served both purposes.

This brightly coloured jar would have been used to store medicine and probably stood on a shelf in a pharmacy. On the front is a stylised portrait of a woman in contemporary dress. Yet the other side looks as though it was left unfinished, with a rough design for another female portrait. This is an extremely rare example of a trial sketch on maiolica and may have been an abandoned plan for the design on the front. To have both sides of the jar painted would have cost more, and as customers would have seen only one side, it is likely that the artist was commissioned to finish the display side only.

Part of the Wernher Collection at Ranger’s House