Dear bartmann,
I have done what I could, and here is the final result of my work.
Although the Bartmannskrug (Bearded Man Jug) is frequently mentioned
as the most typical example of late medieval and renaissance Rhineland
pottery, few authors address the issue of its origin and probable
symbolic meaning; most books don't even note anything about this at
all but present the distinctive design without bringing up the
question about its background at all. There are not many sources
dealing with that topic. Luckily, my library could provide me with a
rare German book: "Rheinisches Töpferhandwerk, gezeigt am Beispiel der
Frechener Kannen-, Düppen- und Pfeifenbäcker" (Rhenish Pottery Craft,
exemplified by the Jug-, Dish- and Pipemakers of Frechen). Since the
Rhineland town of Frechen was, together with Cologne, the place where
most Bartmannskrüge were produced, this proved to be a valuable
source. In one chapter, author Karl Göbels presents the various
products made by renaissance potters in Frechen, addressing the issue
of their meaning. He collected statements of art historians on the
Bartmannskrug design. The most important thing first: There is no
definitive answer. Absolutely no one can say for sure why and how the
Bartmannskrug with its unusual decoration developed. But I will quote
the relevant statements on the issue in full, so you get an impression
of the main opinions:
"Particularly well-known is the bearded man's face which the potters
in Cologne, Siegburg, Langerwehe and Raeren, but over the longest time
and most frequently in Frechen, have applied to the necks of the jugs
they made. Since the last decades of the 19th century, the name
'Bartmannskrug' has become common for that kind of container.
Again and again, authors have concerned themselves with how to
interpret this male visage on the jugs. The reader might welcome a
collection of the diverse opinions:
'Dr. Jansen (in the 'Jahrbücher des Vereins von Altherthumsfreunden im
Rheinlande' XIX, p. 149 f.) considers that the bearded head at the
neck of this jug is meant to depict God the Father and that the
portraits in the small medaillons above and below the inscription
represent the person to which the exhortations or prayers refer,
probably the owner of the jug. However, this explanation is obviously
a bit far-fetched. The sometimes grave, sometimes cheerful, sometimes
grotesque face masks that were used with particular preference and
almost generally for the bellied jugs of the late Gothic and
renaissance periods had no other purpose than to decorate the
container's neck in an adequate and pleasing way. The idea that it had
been intended to depict a particular person's head with the mascaron
is just as unlikely as the presumption that the heads of the small
medaillons refer to the owner or user of the jug ... It was simply
decoration with no deeper meaning.' (Dornbusch, A 93)
[...]
'The so-called Frechen Bartmannskrug is not an invention of any
Rhenish pottery workshop. The frequent use of masks as decoration on
ceramic items does not require an extensive explanation. During the
renaissance, the human visage and the antic mask had been in use
everywhere in the arts, including architecture, smitheries, on
products made from wood and precious metals.' (Heinrich Ritzfeld,
Musings about Pottery, in: Catalog of the Frechen Exhibition 'Pottery
from Frechen from the 15th to the 18th Century', 1951)
'Are they (the Bartmannskrüge) containers for the purpose of votive
offerings? Did they serve as apotropaion? Or do they even emblematise
symbols of fruitfulness? Was the owner, when looking at the face,
confronted with a strange being? Or did he identify with that head?
... The almost idealised heads of the Cologne jugs make us think of
self-reflection of one's own personality ... A strong and earmarked
relation to the owner is in any case a new possibility of
interpretation and shows that the meaning of the bearded masks was
obviously subject to fluctuation during the 16th century.' (Gisela von
Bock, The Evolution of the Bearded Mask on Rhenish Pottery, in:
Festschrift for Dr. Köllmann, Keramos 34 (1966), p. 42)
'There have been many disputes about the meaning of the bearded masks,
but it has not been possible yet to resolve the question. One thing,
however, is for sure: They were more than mere decoration, and they
stood for a message that remains hidden from us: 'I, the
Bartmannskrug, resembling a man...' Thus the Bartmannskrug is the
plastic expression of a concept unknown to us.' (Gisela von Bock, From
the Bartmannskrug to contemporary Pottery Sculpture, in: Mitteilungen
der Industrie- und Handelskammer zu Köln, 23 (1968), issue No. 17, p.
483)
[...]
For interpretation it would be necessary to consider that the
Bartmannskrug was in by far most cases a mass-produced item and that
attribution to a particular person might lead to misinterpretation.
Potters and users of the jugs were, because of the connecting merchant
between them, almost never in direct contact. The old, established
principle of the archaeologists is applicable here: An proximate
interpretation should be favoured over a far-fetched one. Since I am
reluctant to enter the territory of speculation, I'd prefer to confine
myself to these general comments."
That is what art historians have to say about the Bartmannskrug and
its meaning. Neither could I locate newer statements and
interpretations anywhere, nor is there a definitive answer to the
question of the design's symbolism, should there be any. The
motivation that caused potters to decorate their jugs with a mask-like
bearded face remains lost in the mists of times past and will probably
never unveiled. Not even in the Rhineland, the very center of
production of Bartmannskrüge, has any memory of their original meaning
survived. This could, of course, indicate that there has never been
any special symbolic meaning and that the bearded faces on the jugs'
necks were simply one of the many kinds of original, grotesque
decorations the people of the renaissance had a particular fondness
for.
Although it is not possible to provide you a definitive answer solving
the mystery of the Bartmannskrug, I hope that the results of my
research are interesting for you.
Best regards,
Scriptor
Source:
Karl Göbels: "Rheinisches Töpferhandwerk, gezeigt am Beispiel der
Frechener Kannen-, Düppen- und Pfeifenbäcker". Published by
Bartmann-Verlag GmbH, Frechen, 1971. |
