The spirit keg is modelled as a drunk and cheerful open mouthed Dutch Man sitting astride a barrel, holding a bottle in his raised left hand and a stemmed wine glass in the other. The barrel is decorated on the front with a peony flanked by spraying plants and a ridged hole meant for a tap. The barrel rests on a hollow rectangular base decorated with flowers, volutes, and a zigzag pattern band. The detachable head is surmounted by a cap adorned with some foliate and petal shaped pompoms in iron-red enamels. His cuffs and his coat with buttons and zigzag motifs were all painted in blue and white, which is rarer than other figures decorated in polychrome colours. Ceramic figures on barrels were popular ‘follies’ in the Netherlands and other European countries. A variety of such figures were made in Delft factories in polychrome, as well as in blue and white from the early 18th century. This figure is a Japanese export porcelain example made in imitation of the comparable Dutch Delft wares.
