Late Sixteenth Century Bartmann Jug; Elizabethan Crowned Tudor Rose Medallions, c.1595.

Late Sixteenth Century Bartmann Jug; Elizabethan Crowned Tudor Rose Medallions, c.1595.

An exceptionally scarce and important Bartmann with its pleasing dumpling form; bearing the Royal badge of Queen Elizabeth I; identified by the crowned Tudor rose depicted on the three medallions of the jug.

The jug is part of a rare group of Frechen Bartmann’s that are thought to of been ordered for the English market by Queen Elizabeth’s courtier Henry Noell during the final years of the sixteenth century.

The representation of official Tudor heraldic design on this type of stoneware is England’s beginning attempt to monopolise the trade of these desirable Rhenish imports.

Thus, seemingly her highness’s stamp on such wares was a message to competitors announcing ‘ we mean business ’.

One other example with the same Tudor medallion is catalogued with the British Museum collections.