Quassia Cup

Quassia Cup

Usage conditions apply
Downloads
Description
Quassia (1692-1787) was an obeah (healer) from the Guinea region of West Africa who was enslaved and taken to Surinam, a Dutch sugar colony on the Caribbean coast of South America. While investigating local plants with medicinal properties, Quassia learned of a tree that when, when made into an infusion, promoted appetite and assisted digestion. Daniel Rolander, a Swedish botanist who visited Surinam in the 1750s, met Quassia and acquired some samples of this tree. These samples eventually reached Carl Linnaeus, in Stockholm, and that noted botanist named the tree Quassia. Nineteenth century medical texts touted the benefits of water drunk from quassia cups.
A torn paper label on this example reads in part “QUASSIA / OR / TONIC CUP / The U.S. Dispensary...”
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
Quassia Cup
Physical Description
wood, quassia (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 5 in x 2 3/8 in; 12.7 cm x 6.0325 cm
ID Number
MG.302607.111
catalog number
302607.111
accession number
302607
Credit Line
Gift of Schrader's Pharmacy, through Harry L. Schrader
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Medicine
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.   

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.

Note: Comment submission is temporarily unavailable while we make improvements to the site. We apologize for the interruption. If you have a question relating to the museum's collections, please first check our Collections FAQ. If you require a personal response, please use our Contact page.