Unusual second-quarter of the 17th century apothecary jar of mild concaving body, wide flaring lip and set back base, decorated in cobalt-blue and antimony–yellow pigments on a tin-white enamelled ground.

The elegant cylindrical body is devoid of decoration, except for the oblique bright yellow cartouche, wrapped in exuberant Mannerist scrolls characteristic of the period, inscribed in Latin “S. FENICUL”, or fennel, an aromatic herb of culinary and medicinal use, whose roots are allegedly of diuretic, expectorant and digestive properties.

Contrary to prevalent Wanli influenced ceramics, and certainly more unusual, these blue and yellow pieces, namely apothecary jars, absorb their particular characteristics from Italy and Flanders in the second-half of the 16th century. It was however a short lived production as, from the early 17th century the Portuguese potters are already mastering the production of high quality pieces adopting a more exotic language, inspired by the fashionable Chinese blue and white porcelain. Polychrome ceramics will eventually re-emerge, albeit modestly, in the second quarter of the century, particularly in the decoration of aquamanilia, religious imagery and apothecary vessels.

The Italian majolica influence extended well beyond decorative compositions, to impact on typologies and shapes. The present jar does fit perfectly into this group for both its decorative and chromatic characteristics and its unequivocal albarelo shape.

A similar apothecary jar is recorded in the António Miranda collection, Lisbon, but with the inscription “V.POPOLIAÕ” (Miguel Moncada, Faiança portuguesa, séc. XVI a séc. XVIII, 2008, p. 43, fig. 28).

Published in: Artur de Sandão, Faiança Portuguesa, séculos XVIII – XIX, vol.I, Barcelos, Livraria Civilização, 1988, p. 29, fig. 8.)