Antique Decorated Terracotta Flask 1800

Antique Decorated Terracotta Flask from 1800, with a lenticular shape and white background, featuring concentric circular decorations painted in shades of blue and ochre outlined in black, with a base. The uppermost part has a connecting point at the base of a handle. The decoration is present on both sides of the flask, with lateral eyelets and holes in the base for threading a cord. It is in good condition, save for some scratches consistent with use and age, and a chip at the base. It originates from Central Italy. These small terracotta flasks were used to hold water or other liquids necessary to quench the thirst of pilgrims during their travels. Relatively small in size, with a lenticular shape, they could be attached to the belt or carried over the shoulder using a cord passed around the flask and threaded through four handles or pierced grips located on the sides. Therefore, the essential tool for the traveler was soon decorated and enriched with new shapes, both in the flask's form and its typology, even finding particular forms such as flasks that are empty in the center, which, being equipped with a base, suggest a more decorative than functional purpose. The decoration also evolved from primitive graffiti with geometric or floral motifs to enamel coloring or pictorial decoration according to the usual styles of the period, or, in the more popular examples, of an abstract nature, as in the case of flasks with abstract, almost random decoration, in which we like to think that the decorator simply had colors to use or finish. Height: 21.3 cm - Width: 18.5 cm - Depth: 5.3 cm art. A1061c 
Measures H x L x P 21.3 x 18.5 x 5.3