A lovely example of early Renaissance salt-glazed Raeren Stoneware c.1580

ORIGIN

Raeren (in present-day Belgium, near Aachen in Germany)

PERIOD

16 / 17th Century

DIMENSIONS

H. 19 cm

DESCRIPTION

Grey stoneware, glazed, painted blue. Bulbous body on a round stand with a narrow cylindrical neck and strap handles on the side. The wall is divided by a horizontal band in relief: fluted at the bottom, punched and fluted with floral motifs at the top. Relief with medallions on the neck.

ABOUT

From around 1200, high-fired pottery was also made around Raeren, and in about 1550, a new finish became popular: the salt glaze, only achievable once kiln temperatures reach above 1250 C - giving the object a shiny, easy-to-clean, strong and acid-resistant finish.

From around 1500, the production of Raeren Stoneware became increasingly important in the region. In the heyday, from about 1530, production grew to more than 600,000 works per year from about 50 kilns. Only the best pieces were exported all over the world. 

At about this time, new craftsmen were recruited, known as “Formenstechers“. These engravers would carve relief designs in the negative (from soft stone, low-fired biscuit or plaster), which the potters would then use to make a positive in clay, which they would then attach to the jug/pot they were working on.

Works such as these can be found in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in Raeren itself.

CONDITION

Good, commensurate with age.

Some minor and barely noticeable restoration.