This jug was made in the 17th century in Saintonge in south-western France, a region renowned for its pottery industry from the late Middle Ages. Initially, the workshops produced high-quality ceramics for the religious and secular elite.
From the mid-seventeenth century colonial trade increased demand for Saintonge ceramics to be exported. Archaeologists have found a proliferation of kilns in the region dating to the late seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries. As production grew in scale, it affected the quality of the pieces to cater to a more diverse range of clients.
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The Courtauld’s puzzle jug is typical of the larger production scale of the late period of Saintonge pottery. The medallions decorating the exterior of the jug, for example, were pre-fabricated by being pressed into moulds, and were then applied to the body of the jug when the clay was leather-dry. These medallions appear on many known pieces of the period.