THEMES:

Two Saintonge polychrome jugs

In the years around 1250 new potteries were established in the Saintonge, the area around Saintes in South West France. They used very fine white clays, contrasting with the common red earthenwares of England. Most of their output was of fine green-glazed jugs, but in the years c. 1280-1330 they also made superb jugs painted with birds, shields or other patterns. The two polychrome jugs, excavated together in Goldsmith Street in 1971, are examples of this second type. One is decorated with birds and shields, the other with an unusual abstract pattern; both are works of remarkable skill and great delicacy.