Large museum jug from the workshop of Paul Preuning Earthenware (pottery). Sand-coloured body with traces of abrasion on the base, painted with polychrome pewter and lead glazes. Slightly tapered shape and decoration, horizontally divided by moulded rings; wide ear-shaped handle with flared base. Rich, all-over decoration with relief overlays in two zones. Five full-length portraits of rulers and princes below semicircular Renaissance arcades, including a portrait of an emperor with crown and sceptre; four oval medallions with female bust portraits in the lower zone. Hinged pewter lid. H. 41 cm. Enclosed: Thermoluminescence examination report by Oxford Authentification dated 2 July 2024, determining the jug to be between 450 and 700 years old. The colourful Renaissance pieces, elaborately decorated with figurative relief overlays, from the workshop of the Nuremberg master potter Paul Preuning are among the most important and beautiful objects of early German ceramics. Preuning probably lived in Nuremberg from 1526 to 1573 or 1598 and ran his pottery workshop at the Tiergärtner Gate near the Imperial Castle. A group of only around 50 pieces have survived, almost exclusively jugs, most of which are in museum collections: highlights include the Museum of Applied Arts in Cologne, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Cf. general literature: Brauneck 1996: Manfred Brauneck: "Krüge der Nürnberger Preuning-Werkstatt", in "Weltkunst" 66, no. 13, 1996. pp.1502-1506; Cynthia Thomas: "Zwei Krugfragmente der Nürnberger Preuning-Werkstatt", in "Natur und Mensch", "Jahresmitteilungen der naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Nürnberg e.V., 2009/2010, pp. 123-130. Provenance: from an old Viennese private collection. A large splendid Nuremberg polychrome painted and glazed earthenware jug with portraits from the workshop of Paul Preuning. Accompanied by a Thermoluminescence analysis report by Oxford Authentification, 2 July 2024, which dated the jug between 450 and 700 years ago. Nuremberg. Workshop of Paul Preuning. Circa 1550.