Drinking vessel, tankard

This small salt-glazed stoneware tankard or ‘pinte’ was probably made in the Maximinenstrasse pottery near Cologne cathedral. The vessel has applied panels in low-relief depicting scenes from the Bible story of Dives and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Specialist craftsmen were employed by the workshop to engrave the moulds for the applied decoration. They used contemporary prints and pattern-books for their source material. Bible illustrations and images from emblem books with a strong moral message were particularly popular, and a number of vessels from the 1500s with Biblical scenes have been recovered in London. Highly decorative relief-moulded stonewares from Cologne begin to appear in London by about 1510. These were expensive consumer products and were designed to appeal to the luxury end of the market.