This jug featuring a bearded face is a fine example of the stonewares made in Cologne in the 1500s. Such depictions were common on stoneware jugs and bottles of all sizes made in Cologne. These vessels were sometimes called "Bartmann" (bearded man) jugs, or "Bellarmines"; according to tradition, this name was a satirical slight against Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542–1621), an opponent of Protestantism in Germany and the Low Countries. More likely, the bearded face derived from stories of the wild man, a mythical hairy creature thought to live in remote wooded regions. The jug’s reminder of this beast at the edges of civilization could have been a warning against drinking to excess.

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.