Drug Bottle thumbnail 1
Drug Bottle thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 137, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Drug Bottle

1540 ca. (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Spouted drug-jar, and cover.Pear-shaped body with wide neck, tin-glazed outside and lead-glazed inside.
Spout in the form of a scaly monster's neck, broad strap handle; lightly domed cover, painted with radiating foliage on petal-pattern. Painted in colours: blue, green, orange, yellow.
Painted on each side of the spout with a caricatured bearded man's head on a blue ground in a panel reserved on an orange ground painted with formal foliage in blue. At the foot rests the inscription "OE EVFORBIO"


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Jar
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Tin-glazed earthenware
Brief description
Drug bottle, 'OE.EVFORBIO' painted on label, made in Castelli, Italy, 1530, tin-glazed earthenware
Physical description
Spouted drug-jar, and cover.Pear-shaped body with wide neck, tin-glazed outside and lead-glazed inside.
Spout in the form of a scaly monster's neck, broad strap handle; lightly domed cover, painted with radiating foliage on petal-pattern. Painted in colours: blue, green, orange, yellow.
Painted on each side of the spout with a caricatured bearded man's head on a blue ground in a panel reserved on an orange ground painted with formal foliage in blue. At the foot rests the inscription "OE EVFORBIO"
Dimensions
  • Height: 10.75in
  • Width: 9in
Marks and inscriptions
'OE.EVFORBIO' (Painted in Gothic script on a label. Oil of Euphorbium is dried latex obtained from the stem of Euphorbia resinifera and other species of Euphorbia.)
Translation
Oil of Euphorbium
Gallery label
Drug bottle Made in Castelli, Italy 1530 OE.EVFORBIO Tin-glazed earthenware C.80-1944 Bequeathed by Sir St.Clair Thomson(16/07/2008)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Sir St.Clair Thomson
Object history
Formerly part of the Collection Damiron. Sale Catalogue (Sotheby's, 16th june, 1938) lot. No. 21 (£36).
Production
J Mallet
Look at Drey.
From the so-called Orsini-Colonna service: compare catalogue Nos. 250-257.
Bibliographic reference
Drey, R. Istoriato maiolica with scenes from the Second Punic War. Livy's history of Rome as source material. In: T. Wilson, ed. Italian Renaissance Pottery . London, 1991.
Collection
Accession number
C.80-1944

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Record createdJuly 16, 2008
Record URL
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