Pot and Cover
1540-55 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The dissemination, during the Middle Ages,of pharmacopoeias and antidotaria, which listed 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 shape of this phramacy bottle is derived from glassware and was adapted to the production of medical storage vessels in the first half of the fifteenth century. It is rarely found made for everyday use and was most likely commissioned for the pharmacy of a wealthy household or monastery.
The shape of this phramacy bottle is derived from glassware and was adapted to the production of medical storage vessels in the first half of the fifteenth century. It is rarely found made for everyday use and was most likely commissioned for the pharmacy of a wealthy household or monastery.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
|
| Materials and techniques | Tin-glazed earthenware |
| Brief description | Pharmacy bottle and lid, made in Castelli, 1535-1565 |
| Physical description | Pharmacy bottle with lid. On the front, in a panel enclosed by a band with leafy scrolls scratched through a blue ground and then coloured, is a half-length figure of a bearded man in profile against a blue sky. Below the panel, a scroll inscribed in Gothic characters with the name of the contents: A. Eufragia. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'A.eufragia'
|
| Object history | Formally in the Bernal Collection Historical significance: The shape of this phramacy bottle is derived from glassware and was adapted to the production of medical storage vessels in the first half of the fifteenth century. It is rarely found made for everyday use and was most likely commissioned for the pharmacy of a wealthy household or monastery. This bottle belongs to a group of similar pharmacutical vessels made in Castelli and known as Orsini-Colonna wares on account of a stylistic similarity to a bottle commemorating the reconciliation of the feuding Orsini and Colonna families in 1517. It is feature of the series that the scroll intentifying the contents of the vessel is placed at the base of the bottle. |
| Historical context | 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. |
| Summary | The dissemination, during the Middle Ages,of pharmacopoeias and antidotaria, which listed 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 shape of this phramacy bottle is derived from glassware and was adapted to the production of medical storage vessels in the first half of the fifteenth century. It is rarely found made for everyday use and was most likely commissioned for the pharmacy of a wealthy household or monastery. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | 254 - Rackham (1977) |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1799A-1855 |
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| Record created | November 3, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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