Tankard

Description The pewter lid closed to prevent the escape of carbonation between sips. The decorative scheme, based on applied reliefs with busts of men and women in contemporary and antique costume set in rectangular frames, points to the workshops of the town of Creussen about 1600. The iron content of the clay reacts with the air to produce a characteristic brown color to which the salt glaze adds a lustrous, mottled sheen. There is an unidentified potter's mark of three crescents on the bottom.

Exhibitions

• Uncertain Times: Martin Luther's Remedies for the Soul. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2017.

Provenance Mr. and Mrs. Fred Van Slyke [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1956, by gift.

Credit Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fred J. van Slyke, Jr., 1956