Jug with a Musical Theme (Back)

Three large medallions, each labeled with the date 1536, decorate the body of this oval jug. They show the mythological figure of Orpheus playing a lira da braccio, a musician in contemporary dress playing a lute, and Elisha, an Old Testament prophet with a turban and a long beard, reading a book. In the Bible, on hearing the music of a stringed instrument, Elisha entered an ecstatic trance and began preaching about doom and destruction. The musical theme of the three medallions suggests that the jug's owner was a music lover or perhaps a musician himself.