Lot Essay
Bellarmines are the name given to Rhenish stoneware jugs made from the fifteenth century onwards which were moulded with a bearded mask below the spout. The name was given to these jugs in the latter part of the sixteenth century in derision of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542-1621), who was hated in Protestant countries for his opposition to the reformed church. However, a far closer prototype for these ewers would appear to be earthenware cider jugs made in Rouen in the early eighteenth century, and later copied by many European pottery and porcelain factories. Chinese versions are rare; see the very similar example exhibited, Ancient Chinese Trade Ceramics From The British Museum, National Museum of History, Taibei, 1994, Catalogue no.86, pp.198-9; and a pair from the C. T. Loo Collection, Paris, illustrated by M. Beurdeley, op.cit., London, 1962, colour plate XXI.