Drug Jar thumbnail 1
Drug Jar thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Medieval & Renaissance, Room 62, The Foyle Foundation Gallery

Drug Jar

1490-1500 (made)
Place of origin

This jar was used for storing drugs. It would have been part of a set of similar jars for different drugs, belonging to a pharmacy. The constriction just underneath the rim was used to close the pot off with a piece of parchment or paper and a string. A few more jars from the same set have survived, including one with a spout, for a liquid drug.
Pharmacies in the Renaissance period were usually run by a monastic orders as part of their hospitals, or by one of the leading local families. The badge of the order or the arms of the family can be found on many surviving drug jars. The flower on our jar would probably have had such a function.


Object details

Object type
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware, painted in colours
Brief description
Drugjar, tin-glazed earthenware, painted in colours with flower in a wreath and inscription 'ALOE SVCVTRIÕ'
Physical description
Drugjar of tin-glazed earthenware, painted in colours, depicting a single flower in a wreath above a label with inscription: 'ALOE SVCVTRIÕ' Above and beneath the letters, faint blue lines can be seen, which were used as a guide for the painter of the script.
Dimensions
  • Height: 26cm
  • Diameter: 14.5cm
  • Weight: 1.2kg
Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries
Marks and inscriptions
'ALOE SVCVTRIÕ' (The Latin inscription on the painted label refers to the original contents of the jar.)
Translation
Socotra aloes (Aloes obtained from the
Credit line
Castellani Collection
Historical context
This jar was used for storing drugs. It would have been part of a set of similar jars for different drugs, belonging to a pharmacy. The constriction just underneath the rim was used to close the pot off with a piece of parchment or paper and a string. A few more jars from the same set have survived, including one with a spout, for a liquid drug.
Production
Stated by Cora, 1973 to be from Florentine Zone (see Bibl.Ref.)
Subject depicted
Summary
This jar was used for storing drugs. It would have been part of a set of similar jars for different drugs, belonging to a pharmacy. The constriction just underneath the rim was used to close the pot off with a piece of parchment or paper and a string. A few more jars from the same set have survived, including one with a spout, for a liquid drug.
Pharmacies in the Renaissance period were usually run by a monastic orders as part of their hospitals, or by one of the leading local families. The badge of the order or the arms of the family can be found on many surviving drug jars. The flower on our jar would probably have had such a function.
Bibliographic references
  • Cora, G., Storia della maiolica di Firenze e del contado: Secoli xiv e xv, Firenze 1973, 213a
  • Bojani, G.C., C. Ravanelli Guidotti, A. Fanfani, La donazione Galeazzo Cora: ceramiche dal medioevo al XIX secolo, Milano, 1985, p. 182, cat 451
  • Biscontini Ugolini, Grazia (Ed), I Vasi da farmacia nella collezione Bayer: Pharmacy jars in the Bayer Collection, Milan, 1997, cat. 9, pp. 60-61
Other number
136 - Rackham (1977)
Collection
Accession number
667A-1884

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Record createdDecember 2, 2005
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