Pharmacy Jar (Albarello)
c. 1510
Maker Unknown
Decorative Art and Design
Pharmacy Jar (Albarello), c. 1510. Italy, Siena, 16th century. Tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica); overall: 22.6 cm (8 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Twentieth Century Club 1965.553 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. This particular storage jar depicts a child riding a wild boar. The scroll along the bottom reads DIA IRIS, indicating that it may have once held a medicinal iris compound.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Formatted Medium
- tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
- Medium
- tin-glazed, earthenware, maiolica
- Dimensions
- Overall: 22.6 cm (8 7/8 in.)
- Inscribed
- Inscription: located above foot of jar: DIA-IRIS.
- Departments
- Decorative Art and Design
- Accession Number
- 1965.553
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Twentieth Century Club
- Exhibitions
- The Triumph of Humanism, <em>The Triumph of Humanism. </em>Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California (October 22, 1977-January 8, 1978).
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 118 Italian Renaissance
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