Flanders, circa 1580-1610 A.D. A cylinder-bellied jug with parallel circumferential grooves to the neck, slightly bulbous body and cylindrical central section, shoulder with radiating bands of ribbed panels, narrow foot with radiating ribbed bands and horizontal grooves; central circumferential frieze with inscription around heraldic medallion with the arms perhaps of the Order of Orange-Nassau on a shield with the motto 'PACE ET JUSTITIA' (Peace and Justice), and the initials I and E above, flanked by the inscription: 'LYFDEN GEIT BOVEN ALE DENCK NEIN SPRICKT DIE PENNINCK ICK BEN SOE LYF EN SOE WERT DAT IDER [MICK] GER[T]' Love goes before everything No, says the penny I am so dear and so precious That everyone wants me'. Cf. the Rijksmuseum, accession number BK-KDG-173, for similar vessel; Schmitz, 'Gres Limburgeois de Raeren' in Bulletin desmissions d’art et d’archéologie, 20 (1881), 17ff., 51-2; Hellebrandt, H., Hugot, L., Mayer, O.E., Raerener Steinzeug / Fünfundzwanzig Jahre Grabungen im Raerener Land / Aachener Steinzeug. (= Aachener Beiträge für Baugeschichte und Heimatkunst. Herausgegeben von Herbert Lepper. Band 4: Steinzeug aus dem Raerener und Aachener Raum, Aachen, 1977, pl.84; for the inscription see Kohnemann, M., Auslangen aus Raeren Steinzeug, Raeren, 1982, p.238. 650 grams, 19 cm high (7 1/2 in.). With Christie's Christie’s, Auction 5347, British and Continental Ceramics, 26 Feb 1995, lot 66. Collection of M. Cummings, Lincolnshire, UK. In the second half of the 16th century, the Raeren potters developed a new revolutionary technical form variant. This formprised a foot, a cylindrical middle part, a shoulder and a neck. The cylindrical middle part allowed the insertion of friezes or inscriptions on the jugs, together with the usual coat of arms and medallions, which decorated the jugs from the same period. Perhaps this series was made by Jan Emens in occasion of the Peace of Gent in 1577 A.D., when a medal similar to the 'medallion' on the jug was made to the order of the seniormanders of the Dutch army.