The shape of the tankard—a tall, tapered drinking vessel with a lid and handle—was developed in Cologne pottery workshops during the Rhenish Renaissance around the middle of the 16th century. This tankard with a convex pewter lid and acorn knob was made at the height of stoneware pottery production in Siegburg, near Cologne. The potters there—known as Ulner—settled in the Ulgasse northeast of the city gates. They used high-quality, particularly fine-grained and white-firing clay that could be found in the region.

The relief on the vessel’s wall consists of three tall panels, each of which frames between columns topped by a rounded arch a female figure in front of a hilly landscape with trees and buildings. Inscribed banners above the figures’ heads name them “De Gerechticheit” (justice), “Der Ghelof” (faith), and “De Gedult” (patience). The virtues are depicted with their corresponding attributes: Justice holds the sword and the scales in her hands, Faith carries the cross and the chalice with the host, Patience is accompanied by a lamb.

As a template for the relief, the pottery used pewter plaques by Peter Flötner (1490-1546), who worked as a medal engraver in Nuremberg. The mold cutter first cut the motifs into the hardened clay mirror-inverted, thus creating the hollow molds, so-called matrices, for the reliefs. In the next step, the clay impressions were made and then applied to the vessel wall before firing. Elaborately designed drinking vessels for beer or wine such as this Siegburg Tankard reached aristocratic and upper middle-class circles through merchants.