Butcher's bottle with screw top

Measuring some 37 cm in height, this bulbous container with a screw top is made from grey stoneware. Standing on a pewter base, it is decorated with cobalt blue tendrils and patterns (vine technique). Between the painted fields and incised elements, coats of arms in relief can be found, as can applied, looped bands with winged creatures – cherubs – at the beginning and end. One coat of arms shows a bull’s head between crossed axes, a trough and butcher's tools, giving this vessel its name. This screw-top vessel is an example of Muskau pottery. Stoneware from Muskau, a Saxon stoneware centre from the 16th to the 19th century, is often confused with Westerwald stoneware due to the cobalt blue painting and the decorations carried out in vine technique. One type of jar that is very common in Muskau, but rarely found in the Westerwald, is the screw-top jar. The lid of this jar is marked with the initials ‘AGH’.