The dissemination, during the Middle Ages,of pharmacopoeias and antidotaria, listing the ingredients, preparation and medicinal properties of hundreds of natural rememdies, brought about an increasing demand for appropriate storage vessels. Pharmacies were, subsequently, a major market for maiolica. The pharmacies and dispensaries of monastic orders, hospitals and noble families required large numbers of jars to store their various herbs, roots, syrups, pills, oinments and sweetmeats. These were sometimes marked with coats of arms or other heraldic devices. The production of drug jars inscribed with their contents began in the middle of the fifteenth century, although, non-inscribed vessels continued to be used enabling their contents to be changed as required.

The ass, a beast of burden, was commonly associated with poverty and obedience and, in this instance, man's helplessness against illness. The fox, a symbol of cuning and sagicity, tends to the ass. A plate, made in Deruta ca.1550-1560, with a similar theme of a man washing an ass's head can be found in The Metropolitan Museum, New York. Moralising scenes of this type was not uncommon on drug jars, especially those destined for monastic institutions, where they served as reminders of mortality and the discords of the world.