GREY BEARD: Earthen jugs
formerly used in public houses for drawing ale: they had the figure of a man
with a large beard stamped on them.
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811
Long known as Bellarmines and more recently as Bartmanns, Gray Beard bottles
were being imported from Germany into England by the last quarter of the sixteenth
century and were still arriving via Flanders as late as 1776. Gray Beards,
characterized by their distinctive masks and many without, were the principal
containers for bottled ale and wines until the development of a glass bottle
industry in the mid-seventeenth century. Pint and quart sizes were the first
to be replaced by glass, but the larger stoneware bottles were stronger than
their glass counterparts and therefore retained their market share throughout
much of the eighteenth century.
The bottles shown here suggest the range of available sizes. Neither piece
can claim to portray the best of the Rhineland potters art, the finest
examples of which dated to the second half of the sixteenth century before
the mass- production of bottles began. Nevertheless, the multi-medallioned
Gray Beard on the right has its place in the record books as arguably the
largest surviving example of its period.
1.
Gray Beard jug, salt-glazed stoneware. Frechen, Germany, ca. 1640.
2. Gray Beard jug, salt-glazed stoneware. Frechen,
Germany, ca. 16301660.