Jug

Although early English pottery was influenced by technical innovations brought by the Romans in the first-century BCE, such as the potter's wheel and improved kilns, this jug, the earliest example in the Burnap Collection, attests that English ceramics also continued to be handmade and fired in small, open kilns. The kiln's smoky environs resulted in the multi-toned and uneven appearance of the jug's glaze. Most early pottery was made for utilitarian use.  Glazed jugs, the most common ware, could be dipped into water wells or wine caskets. This jug is decorated with a bearded human mask at the spout and applied rolls of clay resembling stitched leather.