Jug from Castril

Yellowish green glass jug, with two handles and decorated with glass fittings in the shape of birds and chains. The glazing kiln in Castril was created between 1490 and 1507, established by Hernando de Zafra, Lord of Castril, who was the Secretary to the Catholic Monarchs and who, during one of his trips, came into contact with glass production in Barcelona. It was then that he saw the advantages of installing a similar one in Castril. It was located in a small workshop beside the house which the noble family had built, today called "Posada del Pilar". The kiln operated under leasing to an industrial body with the guarantee that a tax would be paid. The privileged geographical location of Castril would provide the necessary natural resources in order to maintain a glass industry: abundant wood from the local woods, a mountain of silica sand which dominated the town with a fast-flowing mountain river which eroded it, and the barilla, a wild plant, which, after combustion, turned into soda, as an indispensable fluxing agent. Only sodium and the actual ashes from the firewood were used in Castril in the fusion of the silica. The products from Castril, which reached all the corners of Andalucía until production was stopped in 1878, belonged to industrial glassware: jars, bottles and demijohns, all of which were produced to be used and broken in the hustle and bustle of kitchens, olive-oil mills or wine cellars; although on occasions, perhaps for the purposes of examining apprentices or journeymen, or as a gift, magnificent objects decorated with loops, threads, festoons, cords, rings.