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Gingerbread Mold with Lovers

Anonymous (Austrian) (?)

Anonymous (German) (?)

ca. 1475-1500 (Renaissance)

earthenware with lead glaze

7 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. (19 x 11.5 x 4.4 cm)

Description
Very few 15th-century molds made for baking have been preserved. The small shape suggests a specialty product, very likely an inexpensive spiced bread, such as gingerbread. Since the baked goods depicted a couple about to have sex, they were probably intended for the revels associated with peasant weddings or for sale at village fairs.
Additional Information

Museum purchase, 1973

48.2329

Not on view

Germany (?)

Austria (?)


Provenance

Leopold Blumka, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, January 1973, by purchase.

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