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An English medieval anthropomorphic jug, 13th century image 1
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An English medieval anthropomorphic jug, 13th century image 7
Lot 66

An English medieval anthropomorphic jug, 13th century

A Modern Antiquarian: The Collection of Graham Slater Part I
15 April 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £35,840 inc. premium

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An English medieval anthropomorphic jug, 13th century

Attributed to Tyler Hill, near Canterbury, Kent, of baluster shape on a spreading pinched foot, the neck with a pinched lip applied with two 'eyes', the shoulder of the jug applied with two modelled arms with incised hands, a substantial looped strap handle applied at the back, the upper part of the jug with a mottled dark olive-green glaze, 29cm high

Footnotes

Provenance
Phillips, 13 June 1984, lot 85
With Jonathan Horne, 1985, published in his catalogue, A Collection of Early English Pottery, Part V, no.104
Graham Slater Collection

As a keen archaeologist in Kent, Jonathan Horne had excavated many Medieval sites and he learnt to recognise some of the distinctive pottery types. In addition to kiln waste from the site of the pottery near Canterbury, jugs made at Tyler Hill have been discovered on many sites in the south-east, including Maidstone, and in London in particular. Although no other anthropomorphic jug of this precise form has been published as from Tyler Hill, Jonathan felt the profile of this vessel, the sharply fluted thumb-pressed base, the pronounced girth grooves and strong rim taken all together indicate that this jug originated near Canterbury. In addition, when sold at Phillips in 1984 the owners mentioned that it had reputedly been found in 1902 in a well at Barham, near to Canterbury.

In 2010 Jonathan described it as a Tyler Hill jug in his paper, Triumphs and Tribulations- A Cautionary Tale, written shortly before his death and published posthumously as a tribute in the journal 'Ceramics in America' in 2014. Jonathan admired the anthropomorphic features, the rudimentary face decorating the front, and how the potter pinched the base on, leaving his finger marks in the process. He added that the jug was serviceable and provided amusement during use; but the attraction of such early pieces lies in their simple functional shapes, which have never been bettered. Through handling this pot, you can feel the hands and fingers of the person who made it more than seven hundred years ago.

Additional information

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