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Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology | The Collections: | ||
| PotWeb: | Ceramics
online @ the Ashmolean Museum |
• | Early Europe & Near East | |
| • | Classical to Medieval | |||
| • | Europe from 1500 | |||
| • | Oriental & Islamic | |||
| A Vessel for everyman and his family |
| Changing fashions | ||
| An astonishing variety of decorative styles was present by the thirteenth century. Serving vessels often display a masterly sense of design and allowing colourful motifs on vessels to be enjoyed by the full range of society. Quantitative analysis has revealed a preference for mottled green glaze in everyday life, through three centuries. Visual imagery including colour was all important to medieval man, who must have been adept at interpreting almost everything symbolically. |  Puzzle jugs were designed for communal drinking games |
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 Shouldered drinking jug and lobed cup for communal drinking, decorated with mottled green glaze |
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| The development of ceramic stylistic innovations shows some periods of continuity and others of change. Fluctuations in design and technology are influenced by work in other materials especially metalwork, and by the social and functional differentiation between consumers and regional and continental economic links and their political requirements. | ||
| How is a vessel defined? | A Vessel for ... | Dated parallels |
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of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 2000
The Ashmolean Museum retains the copyright of all materials used here and in its Museum Web pages. last updated: jcm/21-dec-2000 |