Getty Museum

Armorial Jar

Date

about 1460–1490

Medium

Tin-glazed earthenware

Culture

Italian

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

Two sculptural handles in the form of twisted ropes adorn this cylindrical jar. It is painted with a variety of lively decorative motifs in blue, green, and ocher over a white ground. The neck of the jar features stripes of blue glaze with an overlapping, zig-zagging line of ocher, while the shoulder is decorated with blue fan patterns. On one side of the jar, a series of blue dots, dashes, and flourishes flank a coat of arms associated with the Baglioni family of Perugia: a shield shaped like a horse head (*testa da cavallo*) with a horizontal ocher stripe over a field of blue. This powerful family periodically ruled the city of Deruta during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and many maiolica jars and dishes from Deruta are painted with their arms. The other side of the jar is painted with the inscription “AMA.DIO” (love God) between stylized, fern-like leaves and tendrils. The words are from an Italian proverb: “Ama Dio e non fallire/ fai del bene… ” (Love God and do not fail / do good deeds…”). Such a jar could have served a functional purpose as well as a decorative one, holding dry goods while reflecting the values and political allegiance of the family or business who owned it.

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