The History of the Beer Jug
Continued
In the year 955, the Evening Country
was saved on account of the Bavarian
farmers who came to the help of the
Emperor Otto in the terrible battle of
Lechfelderheide. The captured East
ern horses were sold in the flourishing
village, Keferloh, and by way of appre
ciation for the services rendered to the
mother country, the Bavarian farmers
could establish a horse market, which
is still kept every year on the first Sun
day and Monday of September. It was,
of course, a real beer festival during
these months. According to the tradi
tions, the guilds of the important beer
jug collectors and the one of the simple
old metal thieves were to be considered
as one union because the innkeepers
complained that their nice beer jugs
and the tin covers were stolen by the
scum. This was the reason for the jug
without a cover. What was the original
reason for the cover? Beer was and is
still being drunk out in the open. In
the beer gardens, as one calls an open
air cafe in Germany and Austria, one
drinks his beer under the trees so the
cover will protect the beer against
blossoms, curious insects, etc. More
over, the beer stayed cool longer and
it saved the waiter a lot of running be
cause he knew when the cover was
down, the customer still had beer in
his jug.
While wandering through the his
tory we are brought into a certain
direction. The pottery jug does still
take an important place in our brewer
ies today, in spite of the fact that glass
is going to be used more and more.
One of the reasons is because for the
last fifty years the light beer has ousted
the dark beer from the market, and the
modern beer drinker wants to see his
golden beer sparkling in the glass. But,
fortunately, the traditional beer drink
er will always appreciate drinking out
of the pottery jug. Working with clay,
water and fire has reached, nowadays,
a joyful height in the European fac
tories. Pottery is a play of clay and fire
and the professional still loves it. We,
too, like this mixing, kneading and
turning into simple forms, originating
something in several minutes which
will remain for all times.
This untouchable hard material,
through all centuries, tells of the man
who made it and about the time in
which he lived. Although there are a
lot of stores filled with worthless trash,
it is remarkable how the interest is
growing for the real, nice ceramic work.
For the starting point of the present
Dutch pottery we ought to see, in spite
of the lack of originality in form and
decoration, Delft for its particular
color, sensitiveness and depth of its
best creations.
When the young republic of the
United Netherlands was searching
around the world and her sons sailed
out all over the world seas, the Dutch
ships came to the East and found a
ceramic, unparalleled.
In 1596, Van Linschoten wrote
about the Chinese porcelain and called
it "More valuable than crystal." In
1600, Van Neck wrote about it and in
1602 the "United East Indian Com
pany" was established, which would
bring to the homeland ceramic from
the East until 1795.
In the same year (1602) the Dutch
public saw Chinese ceramic for the first
time when two Zealand ships had cap
tured a Portugese freighter, a "caracca
of nao" of San Jago, and its load of
porcelain was auctioned in Middel
burg. Two years later, another ship,
the "Catharina," was captured and its
load of over 100,000 pieces was market
ed in Amsterdam.
Holland got to know the Eastern
ceramic, and manufacturing followed
in Delft.
After that, during the eighteenth
century, the refinement had reached its
height of glory; they started making
Dresden China, but the competition of
the German China, as well as the Eng
lish pottery; the common ramps of
war; and foreign occupation ended ar
the production of ceramic. Only onw
small Delft plant continued to work.
An important share in the develop
ment of the public's love for pottery is
certainly in the work of many painters
because all through the centuries the
ceramic products served as models for
these artists. Even our famous Vincent
Van Gogh, the father of expressionism,
was, during his career, interested in
ceramic although he never exercised
this profession. There were always
ceramic products around him, always
ready to be put in the light or shadow,
to be thrown over, to be subject to Vin
cent's passions; they were the carrier
of an expressive power. One of his still
life paintings, in the Amsterdam City
Museum, represents some beer crocks.
"Old Crocks," that is all Vincent calls
it in his letters. Why just these crocks
of grey pottery, with blue bands and
tin covers, which he suddenly discov
ered with one of his friends in Eind
hoven, the Gold and Silversmith, Her
mans, we do not know; he never tells
about it in his letters.
Meanwhile, at the end of the 19th
Century another ceramic product ap
peared which showed a much stronger
character; the work of Theodoor Coh
enbrander (1841-1930), an architect
from origin. His work has been of tre
mendous meaning to the development
of general industrial art. The charac
teristic of his work is the imagination
which, just in that dull time, was really
something.
In consequence of this revival, a
movement started which, in principle,
produced very simply; form and color
were given special attention. "Bert
Nienhuis" should be mentioned be
cause he was the first one to appty-
ground glaze. It was for ceramic a
highly fruitful time, which gave every-
(by Mr. G. W. Hardevelt Kleuver, Jr., a collector and judge of beer jugs)
(Reprinted with permission of the Editors of VERS VAN 'T VAT, the Heineken's Breweries house organ.
GLAZED CERAMIC
INFLUENCE OF PAINTERS
