Jester Jug (Cruche Tête de fou), shape no. 652

In 1790 three businessmen set up a factory to produce earthenware (faience) in the city of Sarreguemines in the Lorraine region of northwestern France, close to the German border. The new venture faced severe challenges amid civil unrest, war, and inflation in France and by 1799 its remaining owners were bought out by Paul Utzschneider (1771–1844), a Bavarian-born businessman based in Strasbourg. Utzschneider, later dubbed “le Wedgwood français” (the French Wedgwood), and his family would bring the factory to great success and prominence through the course of the 19th century. As early as 1801 the factory’s products were winning prizes at French national exhibitions and in 1812 the company received commissions from the emperor, Napoleon I, to furnish vases that would decorate imperial palaces and gardens. By the late 1830s, the firm entered a business relationship with a German competitor, Villeroy and Boch, which allowed the company to modernize the factory in the 1840s, when it employed more than 500 workers. The company continued to expand and by the late 1860s employed more than 2000 workers in three separate factory facilities. Majolica, earthenware decorated in brightly colored lead-based glazes, was introduced by the firm in the mid-1870s, a time in which the firm faced the difficulties wrought by the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871). Since Sarreguemines was in a part of France ceded to the German Empire after the war, the firm opened additional factories and facilities in Digoin and Vitry-le-François, France, to ensure unimpeded access to the French market. Majolica continued to be a part of the firm’s offerings well into the 20th century.

The Jester Jug was one of the earliest designs Sarreguemines made in majolica and is typical of a subset of the company’s majolica production, which included several jugs using human and animal heads as the basis of their design. This model follows a tradition in Europe that was more than a century old by the time the Jester Jug was introduced, of realizing playful or trickster characters in ceramics. The Jester Jug design in fact recalls the clothing often employed by actors or jesters during the 18th century and earlier, which included distinctive hats and ruff collars. The Jester Jug model seems to also have had widespread appeal for its ornamental and amusing form as the model was produced for decades and in at least two sizes.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Collection of Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, by 2022, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.