1597

Jug with Peasant Dance

Artist/maker unknown

This jug is adorned with scenes of dancing peasants taken from prints by the German artist Hans Sebald Beham. The decoration might have been a parody of proper behavior (and thus a reminder against excess) or enjoyed as lighthearted subject matter. The inscription below the dancers translates, "Gerald, thou must blow lustily so the peasants may dance as though they were mad. Faith, says the pastor, I will dance away my cap with my cassock."

Stoneware was first produced in Europe in the German Rhineland and eastern Netherlands in the 1200s. This type of ceramic becomes impervious to liquids when fired to high temperatures, making it an ideal material for drinking vessels. Raeren (historically German until it became part of Belgium after World War I) was an important center for stoneware production, making vessels of all shapes and sizes decorated with a rich, brown, iron-based wash and refined Renaissance designs.