CERAMIC DRUG JAR OR SYRUP JAR. POSSIBLY ITALY, 18TH CENTURY.

Orza. Ceramics. Possibly Italy, 18th century. Jug with a globular body with a small base, a reduced spout in the mouth (narrower than the body, and with a small neck) and a handle formed by a twisted flat element, made of glazed ceramic and decorated with a composition in blue on White background. Around a cartouche with an inscription (“AQa di MALVA”, alluding to a remedy derived from the common mallow, a common plant in Europe that was already mentioned, along with its healing properties, by Pliny the Elder among others), and using various shades of blue, an important variety of plant elements and flowers have been arranged, accompanied by a bird perched on the cartouche. Ceramic decoration in shades of blue on a white background was common in Europe as early as the 17th century (Dutch and English pieces, works in Talavera de la Reina in Spain, etc.). In the Italian case and in ceramics (with this provenance, usually called “maiólica”), decoration in cobalt blue on white is already found in Byzantine-inspired works in the Quattrocento, accompanying various influences. In the first third of the 16th century, this “porcelain” decoration (since, apparently, it is distantly inspired by Chinese porcelain works that use these colors) continues, with touches of other colors. Compare this work with the pieces known as "Médici Porcelain", from the third quarter of the 16th century. The glazed majolica from light blue to dark blue, obtained with cobalt oxide, is called «berrettina». It was used from the 16th century to the first half of the 17th, in productions mainly in Liguria and Veneto. Likewise, it is worth pointing out a series of pieces with which this one is somewhat more related: pharmacy jar with Saint Paul (made in Savona in the 17th century, today in the Faenza International Museum of Ceramics), or with albarelos preserved in the Hispanic Pharmacy Museum of the Complutense University of Madrid, works from the Italian region of Savona, pieces in private collections, etc.

· Size: 24x30x26 cms.