Italian Armorial Jug - Pope Clement XI

A rare Italian armorial jug with the coat of arms of Pope Clement XI’s. Papal coats of arms are traditionally shown with an image of the papal tiara and the keys of Peter as an external ornament of the escutcheon. Pope Clement XI, born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was pope from 23 November 1700 to his death in 1721. He was born in 1649 in Urbino to a distinguished family. His mother Elena Mosca was an Italian, descended from a noble family of Pesaro, while his father Carlo Albani was a patrician descended from the noble Albani family that had established itself in Urbino from northern Albania in the 15th c. At the upper side of the jug is written “Clemente XI (gio. Albani) 1700”, the year he was elected pope (private collection, Athens Greece).