Pharmacy jar (syrup jug)

Slender, rimmed foot upturned pear-shaped bowl slender, curving neck, splayed upper rim. The short pouring lip is looped. The broad, flat handle fits to the neck and the body. Decorated with a network of pentagons, ornamented with stylized flowers at each join and with "Persian" palmettes in the middle of each field, enclosed by scattered volutes, circles and spots. The foot and upper rim have horizontal stripes. Painted in cobalt and yellow, some parts contoured in manganese. The handle is plain green. Both the shape and the decoration relate this piece to the syrup jug with the inscription S. DI. BRETONICA, marked with S, in the collection of the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza. Similar ornaments of Persian palmettes, a network of pentagons and scattered spots and volutes can be found on many other Montelupo dishes. The syrup jug of Inv. No. 5411 is thought by L. Nékám to be from the last quarter of the 15th century, made in Florence or Faenza. Brestyánszky dates it to 1500. However, among chemist's jugs made in Florence or Faenza the number of those with a looped pouring lip is relatively small, while on the other hand it was a common feature of Montelupo ware. On the basis of this formal feature and the decoration the jugs are judged to be from Montelupo.