Mortar and Pestle
Mortar and Pestle
Previous
Next
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- Beaker-shaped mortar with a flaring mouth has five buttress-like ribs alternating between oval medallions decorated with a woman's face. The exterior portion of the flared mouth has a band of stylized stars. The pestle has a T-shaped handle.
- Urdang catalogued this mortar as Italian. Yet in a hand written note found in the mortar Dr. Kisel suggests the mortar is Spanish. Wittop Koning also thought the mortar to be Spanish.
- Interestingly a partial round blue and white paper label glued to the interior of the mortar is marked (Printed and hand written) "VILLE DE.../M A. Ritten.../ notaire/ a Strasbourg/ I/I EXPOSITION DR DINANDE"
- The material that the mortar is made from has a silver-pewter cast typical. The pestle has golden tone and is probably not original to the mortar.
- Medieval Dinant (also spelled Dinand) and Bouvignes specialized in metalwork, producing finely cast and finished objects in a silvery brass alloy, called dinanderie Their metal ware was exported throughout Western Europe and England.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- mortar
- mortar and pestle
- Other Terms
- mortar; MANUFACTURING & DISPENSING EQUIP.
- Physical Description
- bronze (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10.9 cm x 12.2 cm; 4 5/16 in x 4 13/16 in
- overall, mortar: 4 3/8 in x 4 7/8 in; 11.1125 cm x 12.3825 cm
- overall, pestle: 1 in x 6 1/2 in; 2.54 cm x 16.51 cm
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.0109
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- catalog number
- M-05662
- collector/donor number
- SAP 374
- Credit Line
- Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- subject
- Pharmacy
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- European Apothecary
- Religion
- Art
- 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.
