In 16th-century Germany, jugs and traditional beer mugs known as beer steins began to be produced of stoneware. They were lavishly decorated with relief images and paintings dedicated to a variety of subject matters.

Stoneware steins were popular in Germany until the 19th century when they had to compete with porcelain and faience mugs. For several decades, their production was discontinued. It was only in the 1870s that Germans became interested in their history and culture and turned to stoneware once again.

Peter Dümler was among the artists who actively contributed to the revival of traditional crafts. His sketch was used to produce the beer stein from the museum’s collection. The design was created in 1883 at a ceramics factory in the town of Höhr, nowadays known as Höhr-Grenzhausen in the Westerwaldkreis.

The decoration is dedicated to the historical victory of the Cherusci tribe over the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest in the 9th century. The battle is depicted on one side of the mug, and the celebration of victory on the other one. In the center of the composition, against the background of a tree, there is a Germanic warrior with a horn in his hand. He leans on the shield with the inscription that reads,

Traditionally, German craftsmen used special dies to apply relief images. The image was created by being imprinted onto a barely-dried clay surface. After that, the product was painted and fired using salt glaze.

At the end of the 19th century, special molds were used to create vessels with relief images. Clay was placed inside the mold. The new method made it much easier to create identical products with the same relief. The beer mug from the museum’s collection was created using this method. In addition to the relief images, the mug features painting made with two primary colors — green and brown. Specific details are emphasized in black. The mug is topped with a domed metal lid decorated with carved patterns. It is equipped with a thumb lever, so that the mug can be quickly opened.