Pilgrim flask
A. Tollin; H. Wencke; Duke de Dino-Talleyrand; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan from Jacques Seligmann & Co., 1906.
Medallions in center inscribed, "Seigneur + Le + ESPERE +EN+TOY"; the monogram "IG"; red number on bottom, "60".
Flask decorated in blue, yellow, beige and green with satire on the Catholic ritual. Four initials in each side: two Gs intertwined with Is, one G is upside down. It stands for Isabeau de la Garde.
The invention of a white glaze that could be painted occurred in Western Asia in the ninth century. This type of tin-glazed earthenware fired at high temperatures spread from the Islamic world to Europe via Spain. During the Renaissance, such ceramics flourished in Italy at centers such as Faenza. These exports in the 15th century gave us the French term faience. This flask is one of the few known examples of faienceware from the southern French city of Nimes. Antoine Syjalon was a Huguenot, that is a French Protestant deacon. He often satirized the Catholic Church in his pottery. Here two fantastic creatures with asses heads carry the palms of Catholic martyrs while defecating and vomiting.