Pharmacy Bottle
c. 1500–1510
Maker Unknown
Decorative Art and Design
Pharmacy Bottle, c. 1500–1510. Italy, Papal States, Faenza. Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica); overall: 38.8 cm (15 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.52.2 Pharmacy bottles that lined the shelves of Renaissance pharmacies often held medicinal herbs, spices, and ointments. The inscription on this bottle reads CAPILLV, which was a liquid extracted from a fern-like plant commonly referred to as “maiden’s hair water.” The peacock feather design lining the bottom of this bottle was especially popular in Faenza, near Bologna, during the Renaissance.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Formatted Medium
- tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
- Medium
- tin-glazed, earthenware, maiolica
- Dimensions
- Overall: 38.8 cm (15 1/4 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: written in lower ribbon band: A. CAPILLV.
- Departments
- Decorative Art and Design
- Accession Number
- 1943.52.2
- Credit Line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 118 Italian Renaissance
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