Posted 9 years ago
Dreggles
(1 item)
This ceramic bottle, which my grandmother used to display in her house, has long been a mystery to my family. Family members can recall seeing this "pear man," as we call it, as early back as about the 1950s, though it may pre-date that. It is about 7 inches in height and is a large pear-shaped bottle that seems to, when viewed from the front, be the body of a man. When viewed from the side, however, it turns out that the man's actual body, which forms the bottle handle is very thin and he is only hugging the pear from behind. This intriguing object always inspired much conversation and most of us found it rather disturbing. I remember my grandmother once saying it may have been a liquor bottle of some kind. She lived in Philadelphia but may have received it from a friend or relative who traveled abroad. I've included the markings from the bottom of the bottle but these are also hard to make out--they seem to be either a brand or name of the manufacturer, plus some sort of production number. But I can't figure it out. Any clues would be very welcome!
love this and beautiful!! welcome to cw!!!
Hi! I love this! What letters can you make out? Looks like SA..ECH.....?
This is fantastic!
Are you able to pencil rub the name?
No we can't do a rubbing on the bottom imprinting as it seems to have been done before the glaze was applied, so it'd just a smooth texture.
Try this -- Put the item under to a bright direct light (very close) but try to get no glare. Then take a pic with the Flash on your camera.
Sometimes with both the direct light and the flash it helps to Accent the deeper marks in a heavy Glaze -- as the Camera sees more than our eye
Worth a Shot...
Mystery solved! A relative has done some research and discovered that the marking and typical crazing on the bottom of the pitcher identifies it as having been made in Sarraguemines, Majolita France in 1880-1900 timeframe since that's the way they marked the item in that particular way. The number on the bottom, 3778, leads to an identical object on an auction site described as "skinny man holding bag," ironically not even described as a pear. See http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9925407 for example.
wow that is great I logged into auction site and it sold for $ 325.00
Wow! Great!
I still think it's a pear rather than a bag. There are several distilleries near that area of France that make a pear liqueur or pear schnaps.
Yes I agree it's definitely a pear, and France is famous for pears. Given what my grandmother once said it may have been a specially made pear liqueur bottle.