Seminara Face Jug

Traditional pottery jug with bearded face from the Calabria region in Italy.
This type of anthropomorphic vessel are called babbaluti.  19th century. 

28 x 22 x 21 cm, damages here and there.

In Seminara around 1880 there were 28 pottery kilns producing this type of lead-glazed ceramics, with a history going back to byzantine times. 
The faces are said to ward of evil or meant as a mockery of feudal lords.