- Drug jar
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Drug jar
- Place of origin:
Florence (province), Italy (probably, made)
- Date:
ca. 1420-50 (made)
- Materials and Techniques:
Tin-glazed earthenware, painted in cobalt and manganese
- Museum number:
2562-1856
- Gallery location:
World Ceramics, room 145, case 47
The late Gothic motifs on the jar - notably the rampant heraldic leopards and the oak leaves that surround them - are much bolder and less linear in treatment than on other contemporary Italian ceramics.
Intended for storing drugs, this large jar was probably made for a hospital pharmacy in or around Florence. When lined up in rows on shelves, these drug jars had a powerful decorative effect. The two small handles make it easier to lift the jar, but might also have been used to fasten a cover to keep its contents fresh.
High quality imports from Valencia in Spain, dominated the market for luxury ceramics in Italy from about 1300 until about 1470. From about 1400, Tuscan potters began to raise the quality of their products to compete with the Spanish imports. They started using a thick layer of brilliant white tin glaze, onto which they painted designs in a thickly applied and intense cobalt blue, often in combination with manganese purple outlines. The tin oxide used in the glaze was expensive, however (it was imported from Cornwall in Britain), and so was confined to the most visible surfaces: the interior of this jar, for instance, has only a lead glaze.
