Objects
Bottle
Alcohol
Consumption
Healths, pledging, and drinking rituals
[Taken from catalogue entry for object]
One of a pair of saltglaze stoneware ‘bartmann’ bottles made in Cologne or Frechen.
The globular body is moulded with three medallions. The central medallion with the arms of Queen Elizabeth I of England above a label inscribed AN.N [i.e. Anno]1594 flanked by two further medallions enclosing the arms of the Holy Roman Empire, the neck moulded with a bearded mask.
In Protestant Europe, wits called these decorated bottles as ‘Bellarmines’, a satirical reference to an important Catholic theologian, the Counter-Reformation Cardinal Bellarmine (1542 – 1621), who argued against giving laymen access to the communion wine. The name ‘Bartmann’ (or ‘bearded man’) was also used in the period.
Inscription:
Arching round top of roundel is scroll containing ‘ELI/LSABET DIE’ broken by crown, ‘GRACIA REGINA’.
Surrounding central coat of arms is ‘HONI SOIT QVI MAL…PENS’.
Beneath coat of arms, ‘AN.N’‘1594’.
Production
Dates of Production: exact 1594
Rhineland, Germany
Materials
Earthenware
Earthenware- stone
Museological Details
Bottle
Crab Tree Farm
D.O.C/1
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