Albarello, Bol Armenic

1500 - 1599

This blue monochrome albarello is decorated with a vine and flora motif. Bands of cross-hatching are above and below the collars, and an scroll is inscribed with gothic script that reads <i>BOL ARMNIC</i>” The jar would have contained Armenian bole. Bole, or bolus (Latin for ball) were balls of clay with medicine mixed in that were either taken internally or applied externally to injured areas. Armenian bole would contain clay from Armenia that contained aluminum silicate and red iron.