Pharmacy Jar (Albarello)
c. 1475–80
Maker Unknown
Decorative Art and Design
Pharmacy Jar (Albarello), c. 1475–80. Italy, Florentine region, Cafaggiolo. Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica); overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1941.550 Storage jars that lined the shelves of Renaissance pharmacies often held medicinal herbs, spices, and ointments. Their shape made them easy to grasp while the flared lip allowed apothecaries to seal off the contents with parchment or cloth secured by a string. A scroll on the back of this vessel indicates that it may have once held a peony compound. At various points in history, medicinal peony compounds have been prescribed for dizziness, weakness, hysteria, jaundice, and kidney stones.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Formatted Medium
- tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
- Medium
- tin-glazed, earthenware, maiolica
- Dimensions
- Overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: in ribbon scroll on back: PENIAELFINE.
- Departments
- Decorative Art and Design
- Accession Number
- 1941.550
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Exhibitions
- Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage, Italian Majolica from Midwestern Collections
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 118 Italian Renaissance
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