{"product_id":"pair-unglazed-terracotta-side-spouted-ewers-graduated-c-1920-1939","title":"Pair of Unglazed Terracotta Side-Spouted Ewers, Graduated, Wheel-Thrown with Strap Handles and Collared Mouths, c. 1920–1939","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo unglazed clay ewers in graduated sizes, made to stand together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach has a \u003cstrong\u003efull round belly\u003c\/strong\u003e drawn up into a long narrow neck that finishes in a \u003cstrong\u003ethick collared mouth\u003c\/strong\u003e, a heavy ring of clay standing out at the top like the lip of a bottle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cstrong\u003etubular spout\u003c\/strong\u003e projects straight out from the shoulder of each, short and slightly upturned, and a \u003cstrong\u003estrap handle\u003c\/strong\u003e arcs from the collar down to the swell of the body — drawn out by hand, flattened, and pressed on at both ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth stand on a \u003cstrong\u003eturned spreading foot\u003c\/strong\u003e, and the bases are flat and cleanly cut.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe surface is bare clay: pale buff, matt and slightly chalky, with fine \u003cstrong\u003ethrowing rings\u003c\/strong\u003e spiralling up the whole body where the potter's fingers rose through the wall. There is no glaze anywhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe side-spouted jug is one of the oldest vessel forms that still looks modern.\u003c\/strong\u003e The Metropolitan Museum holds a terracotta side-spouted jug from Minoan Crete, dated \u003cstrong\u003eabout 2600–2400 BCE\u003c\/strong\u003e, which the museum describes as \u003cem\u003e“one of the most characteristic”\u003c\/em\u003e shapes of the Early Minoan II period — nicknamed a teapot with an exaggerated spout. Four and a half thousand years later the arrangement is unchanged: belly for volume, neck to pour from, spout to aim, handle to hold.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLeaving the clay unglazed is not an omission. It is the working principle.\u003c\/strong\u003e A porous unglazed body lets water seep slowly through the wall and evaporate off the outside, and evaporation carries heat away with it — the vessel sweats, and the water inside gets cold. The Spanish \u003cem\u003ebotijo\u003c\/em\u003e is the most studied version of this: placed somewhere warm with dry moving air, it can drop the water temperature by as much as \u003cstrong\u003e10°C — 18°F — in an hour\u003c\/strong\u003e. The physics turned out to be complicated enough that Spanish scientists in the 1990s wrote a pair of differential equations to describe it. The oldest known botijo is Early Bronze Age, from a site at Beniaján occupied between about \u003cstrong\u003e1700 and 1500 BC\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVessels like these belong to the replica trade that grew out of the Grand Tour.\u003c\/strong\u003e Travellers to Greece, Italy and the eastern Mediterranean bought terracotta made in the ancient forms — not represented as excavated, simply made the old way: on a wheel, unglazed, by potters in places where the shapes had never gone out of production. The trade ran strongly through the nineteenth century and on through the interwar decades, and it is where most classical-form terracotta in American and British houses came from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth are \u003cstrong\u003ehand-thrown\u003c\/strong\u003e rather than moulded — the rings run continuously up the wall, the two are similar but not identical, and the handles are pulled and applied by hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is \u003cstrong\u003eno maker's mark, stamp, signature, label or country-of-origin mark\u003c\/strong\u003e on either piece, and they are offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e. Dated on the hand throwing, the classical replica form, and the dry ingrained character of the bisque with its soft-edged losses and soiling worked down into the throwing rings: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1920–1939\u003c\/strong\u003e. The form itself is thousands of years older and carries no date of its own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ePair of side-spouted terracotta ewers in graduated sizes, sold together\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eRound body on a turned spreading foot, long neck to a heavy collared mouth, tubular spout from the shoulder, hand-pulled strap handle from collar to body; visible throwing rings throughout\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eUnglazed porous terracotta in a pale buff body — no glaze inside or out\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eNone. No stamp, signature, label or country-of-origin mark on either piece. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1920–1939. Dated on the hand throwing, the Grand Tour replica form and the dry ingrained bisque with soft-edged losses; the side-spouted form itself is Bronze Age and carries no date.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eExcellent. Both are sound with no cracks, no chips to the rims, collars or feet, no repairs and no restoration; both stand level, both spouts are clear and complete, and both handles are firmly set with no stress lines at either join. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect the surface to be matt, chalky and dry\u003c\/strong\u003e — that is aged unglazed bisque, not damage — along with brown discolouration and soft-edged wear around the foot of the smaller ewer, faint soiling worked into the throwing rings, and the ordinary small irregularities of hand throwing. No structural staining and no odour. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA graduated pair does something a single vessel cannot: it makes a composition on its own, with no styling required.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSet the two together on a console, a mantel, a kitchen shelf or the end of a dining table and the difference in height does all the work. Pale unglazed clay against dark wood, painted furniture, stone or plaster is one of the most reliable contrasts in decorating, and it belongs equally to a farmhouse kitchen, a plaster-walled hallway and a very modern room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey are good with flowers and better with branches. The narrow collared mouths hold a few tall stems upright without a frog or tape — eucalyptus, olive, pampas, dried grasses, a single flowering branch — and the long necks mean the arrangement can be sparse and still look deliberate.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe shape is also the quiet pleasure. Somebody threw these on a wheel; you can follow the rings up the wall with a thumb, and the handles were pulled out of wet clay by hand rather than stuck on from a mould.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and unglazed clay has one rule that surprises people. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not fill these with water and leave them.\u003c\/strong\u003e The wall is porous by design — that is the whole point of the material — so water will seep through, darken the body permanently and leave a ring on whatever they are standing on. For fresh flowers, put a glass jar or a florist's vial inside; for dried stems, nothing is needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not wash them and never put them in a dishwasher.\u003c\/strong\u003e Bare bisque absorbs anything it touches, and detergent, oil and soap go in and stay in. Dust them with a soft dry brush; lift a mark with a clean dry eraser or fine abrasive sponge used very lightly, and accept that some marks will not come out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKeep them out of freezing conditions — a porous body that has taken up damp will split when it freezes — and lift them by the body rather than the handle or the neck, which are the thinnest parts.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48044428853353,"sku":"VE-0717","price":325.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/IMG_2144.jpg?v=1789180324","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/pair-unglazed-terracotta-side-spouted-ewers-graduated-c-1920-1939","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}