Drug jar
- Place of origin:
Castelli, Italy (possibly, made)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
- Materials and Techniques:
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
Medieval and Renaissance, room 62, case 9
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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.
Physical description
Albarello (drug jar). On the front in a rectangular panel flanked by criss cross pattern scratched through a blue band, a fox washing the head of an ass which sits in a chair, with a towel round its neck, holding a basin beneath its chin; below, the name of the drug, LOCH DE PVL' VVLPIS ("fox lung loc"). At the back, M in a panel with shaded border, trellis scratched through a blue band.
Place of Origin
Castelli, Italy (possibly, made)
Date
ca. 1520 (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware
Marks and inscriptions
'LOCH DE PVL'WLPIS' Fox lung loc
Dimensions
Height: 22.2 cm, Diameter: 13 cm, Weight: 1.02 kg
Object history note
Formerly in the Henry Wallis Collection
Historical significance: The depiction of a fox washing the head of an ass relates to the contemporary proverb: "He who washes the head of an ass wastes his effort". 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. Drug jars were frequently decorated with such moralising scenes relative to the sickness and fallability of the world.
Historical context note
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.
Descriptive line
Albarello (drug jar), made in Castelli, Abruzzo region or The Marches, ca. 1540
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Drey, R. Apothecary Jars: pharmaceutical pottery and porcelain in Europe and the East 1150-1850. London, 1978
Rackham, B. Italian Maiolica. London: Faber &Faber, 1952
Rasmussen, J. Italian Maiolica in the Robert Lehman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987
Watson, Wendy M, Italian Renaissance Ceramics From the Howard I. and Janet H. Stein Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, exh.cat. Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001
See Ceramics and Glass Collection Object Information file
Materials
Tin-glazed earthenware
Techniques
Painted
Categories
Ceramics; Earthenware
Collection code
CER
