The Ewer: an Example of Renaissance

The Ewer is French and was made in a town located in the west known as Paris. This ceramic belongs to the French Renaissance and there are many more like it but never of the same design for each one is unique. This style had a name of itr's own, known as Saint-Porchaire ware. It had a very high quality and could be found under a kingr's possession due to the difficulty in making one. There are also ties to the royal court having these as well. The style has a mannerist decoration popular in Italian Renaissance leading us to believe the French had this influence. It is known that it was used to carry water or other liquid substances for beverage. There is no known artist to this piece like other Saint-Porchaire ware, all that has been recorded is it was made in a small shop. A few craftsmen are believed to have worked on these due to their similarities in style and design. The amount of labor that went to making this ewer was time consuming. Every little detail was made slowly and carefully made by lead-glazed earthenware. The design was made with clay spinning on a wheel and guided to its shape by hand. The handle and beak was hand molded as well and was helped with metal objects to give its shape and fine detail folding. After the texture was smooth and left to dry they used impressions to stamp the designs. You wont find any of these pottery pieces with multiple colors, they always contained creamy soft colors and dark ink from the stamps. This ewer is very well balanced in its design and the creaturer's shapes and size are proportionate to one another. Itr's wide size on top meets to a small base at the bottom and then is being held by a wide platform for balance at the bottom. There is no history on what the small sculpted figures are made out of at the top, but the carving detail is perfected. The texture of this Ewer is not a smooth straight surface all around. You feel the sculpted design and pointed glazed cuts on the handle. The figures faces are three dimensional with the frogr's eyes popping out of its head and the ears of the sea creature at the bottom also standing out of his head. The ribbon like design on top of the stamps are also popping out of the base yet have a smooth texture. There is a strong antique style here and gives even a rustic feel. It makes you believe you could find this in a small outdated village, but with the amount of detail it contains you know this piece was rare to come by and one of a kind, therefore was sold at a high price. This is a historical Ewer leaving us with admiration. Looking at the detail and having us think about the dedication given to this pottery. It leaves us to interpret the creatures however we find more pleasing. Some see a snake but I see sea creatures to be discovered. It brings curiosity to the human eye, we are forced to analyze every detail, inch, and corner to try to understand it. Even to come up with an explanation for its design. The print of Two Flayed Men and Their Skeletons by Domenico Del Barbiere made me respect the dedication artists during the high renaissance had. They studied the human body so well they knew how the muscles worked together and skeletons down to their skeleton form. It makes me think of the extremes artistr's probably went through, such as being present in a body dissection after death where doctors performed incisions. They maybe even looked at doctor notes and books if it was available. I also chose to write about this print because it was all engraved which I know first hand takes a lot longer than sketching.

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