Italian? Pottery

Looks Italian to me but not sure and I think the bottom is reading right side up but not sure of that either. It is about 9 1/2 inches tall. TIA for any information. Sharon
Hopefully the photos are OK.

 

Upside down, this bit could almost be Greek letters, ELGMI, except epsilon is backwards:

 

Thank you so much!

 

You're welcome, but doesn't seem like a useful observation. To my uneducated sensibility, it does not feel Italian. If that is a W & not an M, think that pretty much rules out a word or initials in a Romance language. They may have it in their alphabet, but seem to do without it, as in the French oui.

On the other hand, I don't know what it's doing here, but in my world, a single F after a name stands for the Latin fecit, indicating that person made it.

 

portugese...?

 

I had that thought too.

 

I think it says Talavera. They sometimes hook the letters together. Here's a less extreme example of what I mean: https://www.ebay.com/itm/N0-17-ARTI...580755?hash=item1a05fc74d3:g:mCkAAOSwsB9V84R6

 

This may not be Talavera, but the way they mark opens your eyes to another way of seeing this one. Except now I see TSAER for the second word.

 

Looks Spanish to me. Here's something similar from Talavera. (The decoration on yours is more traditional, less touristy.)

Debora

 

Thanks everyone...took me in directions I had not considered.

 

I believe that your vase originally arrived on the marketplace completely unmarked. I think some unscrupulous individual decided to add false markings in an attempt to add value to pitcher. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts sell reproductions of some pieces of pottery they own. They are marked as such, particularly the ones from Portugal and Spain. The use of Roman numerals on legitimate copies are used to denote the century that the original was made. In my opinion the pitcher was made in Portugal or Spain. It was not made in Italy.

 

Thank you for the information Walter. Good to know!