Of grey body covered in a characteristic glossy brown salt glaze. With an elegant long neck emanating from a spherical body bearing three crisply moulded oval armorials bearing the coat of arms of the Nesselrode family. Each armorial is surrounded by the inscription:

WILHELMIS:VAN:NESSELRAEDUND:WILHELMA:VANSDRIDHAGEN:SINE:HOUSFROW:1592

[Wilhelm van Nesselrode and Wilhelma van Streithagen, his housewife, 1592]

There are other examples of Raeren pottery with the same armorial, one discussed and illustrated on the website of Munich antique dealer Peter Vogt [see https://www.fayence-steinzeug-vogt.de/en/cobalt-blue-raeren-armorial-stoneware/] where he cites another in the Hetjens Museum; and an lone roundel in the Töpfereimuseum in Raeren.

Vogt attributes his jug to the workshop of Jan Baldems Mennicken, noting that Jan Baldems Mennicken (1577-1613) continued the work of Jan Emens (ca. 1582-1591) within his workshop and was henceforth regarded as the leading master and finest exponent of the fully mature late style of Raeren.

Raeren was historically part of the German Empire but was transferred to Belgium with other border districts in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles. It remains part of a German speaking enclave in the province of Liège. 

Condition:
No restoration, some chips to the rim of the jug, and an area of loss to one of the armorials

Provenance:
Illustrated in the “Steinzeug”, a selling catalogue from Battenberg Antiquitäten by Konrad Strauss and Frieder Aichele, published by Battenberg Verlag in 1980.

Price: £9,500