The drinking jug

The Drinking Jug from 1904 depicts a ceramic water vessel — the kind of ordinary domestic object used throughout southern Spain and the Levant for keeping water cool. Sorolla was not primarily a still-life painter, but he frequently included objects from the Valencian household in his genre scenes, and this independent study of a jug reflects his interest in the specific material culture of his home region. The clay jug with its matte, cool surface presented a different textural challenge from the wet flesh and shimmering sea of his more ambitious subjects. The painting's current location is listed as unknown, suggesting it has passed through several private hands.

The matte clay surface of the jug is rendered with rapid brushwork that suggests its texture without laboring over it. The painting demonstrates Sorolla's ability to find visual interest in a single ordinary object, treating the still life with the same direct attention he gave to more complex scenes.