Artwork Page for Two-Handled "Oak Leaf" Drug Jar with Male and Female Portraits

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Two-Handled "Oak Leaf" Drug Jar with Male and Female Portraits

1431

workshop of Giunta di Tugio

(Italian, c. 1382–1450)
Measurements
Overall: 20.4 cm (8 1/16 in.)
Public Domain
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Description

This two-handled drug container with a bulbous body and short neck belongs to a group of wares known as "oak leaf jars" because of their decoration. This example includes two profile busts amid blue-on-white oak leaves on branching stems. On each handle is a crutch, painted in green and manganese. This was the badge of the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence. The star motif below the crutch is the workshop mark of the ceramist Giunta di Tugio, known to have received this commission in the year 1431. In the early Middle Ages hospitals were simple hospices set up outside cities to offer food and lodging to pilgrims and travelers. The Santa Maria Nuova hospital, by the mid-1300s the largest in Florence, was the first hospital in that city dedicated primarily to caring for the sick.
This tin-glazed earthenware vessel features a rounded body, twin arched handles, and a wide neck capped by a tan rim. Painted in deep blue and purple-brown, a man's profile faces right, sporting a flat hat and curly beard amidst stylized leaf patterns. A band of vertical blue stripes encircles the neck against the white background. Slight wear marks the vessel's base and the edge of its flat lip.

Two-Handled "Oak Leaf" Drug Jar with Male and Female Portraits

1431

Giunta di Tugio

(Italian, c. 1382–1450)
Italy, Florence, 15th century

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