In the Pitt Rivers Museum we have seven Bellarmine bottles. The bottles are also known as
Bartmann jugs or ‘greybeards’.
The
vessels were originally used to transport wine from Northern Germany to England
in the 16th and 17th century. The name Bartmann means ‘man with a beard’ in
German. This type of vessel was made at
a pottery in Frechen near Cologne.
The
vessels are stoneware and salt glazed.
The bearded face is a mould added to the neck of the vessel. Later 17th-century vessels also
had moulded medallions on the body of jug.
The
jugs in the Pitt Rivers Museum were recently studied by a researcher interested
in witch bottles and concealed objects. Two of the Pitt Rivers Museum bottles have contents and could have been
used as witch bottles.
The bottles contain nails, pins and hair. One bottle contains a cloth heart.
Left: PRM accession number 1910.18.1 with its contents pictured below.
 |
| Jugs from the PRM collections for inspection in the visiting researchers' room |
Witch bottles are said to offer protection and
counteract spells cast by witches. The Museum of Soho has a
bellarmine bottle that was found concealed in a wall.
Madeleine Ding
Assistant Curator
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