Bellarmine Bottles and early stoneware.
Bellarmines were commonly used throughout Europe for over two hundred year. The first examples were produced in Germany from the 1520s, the snarling mask on the shoulder is said to represent Cardinal Bellarmine who was opposed to drink and a strong Roman Catholic. Although it had been common practice for potters from earlier periods to put a face on the neck of their bottles before Cardinal Bellarmine was ever heard of.
In the early period the Face Mask and the Cartouche were usually of a fine quality, towards the end of the bottles production in the 1720s the mask had become a much poorer representation and crudely done. Designs of the Cartouche varied enormously, they could contain, Coats of Arms of Towns or Cities, The Arms of Wealthy Clients, and the Arms of the new breed of Merchants. Some highly prized examples also include the date. Again towards the end the quality suffered and simple Geometric forms and crude flower designs replaced the earlier finely produced example.
Bellarmines were mainly produced in the Frechen area of Germany, near Cologne, and also in the nearby Siegburg, and were shipped in vast quantities to all parts of Europe and the world. It is commonly thought they contained beer or wine when transported, but it was usually the case they were empty, the bottles were used for drawing the wine or beer from the barrel and taking to the table for pouring.
Bellarmines have various names, in Germany they are called Bartmanns, which means Beardedman or more commonly Bartmannskrug. Which translates as Beardedmans Jug.
In Britain they are also called Witches bottles, this derives from the practice of burying the bottles under the Hearth or Porch of your house to ward off evil spirits, the bottles were filled with hair, urine, nail clippings, pieces of rags and nails all thought to ward off Evil Spirits.
Below are some of the Bellarmines I have managed to get together, hopefully I have got the date order right, but they can sometimes be difficult to get right.
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Next two large sized Bellarmines, the largest is 43cm in height, bottle 1 has three rings whilst the largest has 5 Vs, an indication of the volume contained.
There are many reproductions of Bellarmines, mostly poor quality, this example was never meant to decieve, made in Germany as a commerative piece.
Early English Stoneware Ginger Beers.
Stoneware Bottles produced between 1817 and 1834 had to pay duty, those bottles were produced with an EX mark to show that the duty had been paid, the exception were Blacking Pots, which had to include the words Blacking Bottle in their mark.
Below is a bottle from Bourne, Denby with a mark for EX11
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Norwich and Brighton Ginger Beers