Jug with Finely-Dressed Woman
This elongated jug displays a bust-length image of a woman in profile set against sprays of foliage. She wears a high headdress, beaded choker, and brocaded dress typical of 1430s Italian court fashions, which are well documented in the paintings and drawings of Pisanello. Columns of stacked bell-shapes flank the handle. A pattern of dots and diamonds embellish the spout. A stylish witness to the elegant court culture in which such jugs were used, this work is decorated with a deep blue pigment of cobalt oxide, known as zaffera, developed by late medieval potters in central Italy.
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