A ewer is a large jug or pitcher, usually with a wide spout, a handle and often a raised foot, used for pouring water or other liquids. In the decorative arts the term generally describes a vessel of some formality or display quality, made in silver, silver-gilt, pewter, brass, porcelain, pottery or glass, and frequently paired with a matching basin or dish.
In the medieval and Renaissance periods, ewers and basins were used for washing hands at the table before forks became common, and the finest silver examples were made as symbols of wealth and status, often displayed on buffets. Rosewater ewers and dishes were important pieces of English plate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Helmet-shaped ewers were fashionable around 1700, especially in Huguenot silver, while Neoclassical designers revived the elegant vase-shaped ewers of antiquity. In the nineteenth century, ceramic jug and basin sets became standard furnishings on bedroom washstands, and factories such as Minton and Doulton produced decorative pottery and porcelain ewers. Collectors value good proportions, quality of decoration and condition, especially of spouts and handles, which are vulnerable to damage.
