Terracotta Traveler's Flask 1800

Terracotta Traveler's Flask from 1800, lenticular in shape, convex on the outer side and flat on the inner side, without a base and with two side handles for the cord (one of which has a partial break). the terracotta is glazed in a marbled greenish ivory color with a more intense green. Central Italy 1800. These small terracotta canteens had the characteristic of containing water or other liquids necessary to quench thirst during the journeys of pilgrims. Of relatively small size, with a lenticular shape and with the possibility of being anchored to the belt or carried over the shoulder by using a cord that was passed around the flask inserted into four eyelets or pierced sockets arranged on the sides. Therefore, the essential tool for the traveler is quickly decorated and enriched with new shapes both in the plastic of the flask and in its typology, until finding particular shapes such as the empty flasks in the center which, being equipped with a base, suggest a more decorative than functional function. Even the decoration passes from primitive graffiti with geometric or floral motifs, to enamel coloring or to decoration that can be pictorial according to the usual models of the period or, in the more popular examples, of an abstract nature as in the case of the flasks with abstract decoration, almost random in which we like to think that the decorator simply had colors to use or finish. Height: 19 cm - Width: 15.5 cm - Depth: 6.2 cm art. A1061h 
Measures H x L x P 19 x 15.5 x 6.2