This free blown green glass container has a long neck, a slightly flared lip, a round squat body, and a twisted spout. Florentine bottles were used for the distillation of flower oils.
This albarello has a white background and blue, green, purple–brown and yellow–orange stylized floral motifs flanked by solid bands of color. Pharmaceutical historian George Urdang dates this albarello to 16th-century Florence. In a letter dated 7 October 1973, pharmaceutical historian and author Dr. D. A. Wittop Koning attributes the place of origin to the Netherlands, and Professor Wolfgang–Hagen Hein, to 16th-century Antwerpen.
This urne–shaped drug jar has a grayish–white glaze, a straight neck, and a round, domed foot. The lid has a cone–shaped finial. A rectangular label is formed at the center of the jar by thin lines of brown, yellow, and green, topped by four C–scrolls forming a blue cartouche with a yellow center. The label creates a frame for the jars inscription.
The inscription reads Cort Cinnam. The outer frame is surrounded at its top and bottom by yellow and green vines and swags of beads. Correspondence in 1954 between Division of Medicine Associate Curator George Griffenhagen and George Urdang notes that the jars appear to be of Catalonian–Aragonese origin. This jar would have contained Cortex Cinnamomum, Latin for cinnamon bark which was used as an aromatic to stimulate the appetite and aid digestion.
This blown and molded square-shaped glass jar is decorated with a baked enamel shield outlined in red and black and capped with a yellow crown. A lion lies at the bottom of the shield. According to George Urdang, author of The Squibb ancient Pharmacy Catalogue the seated lion is an indication that the jar was from a pharmacy named Lion Apothecary. It is marked with the alchemical symbol for salt and C RE CT.
This blown and molded bottle has a narrow neck for pouring liquids. It's baked enamel label is framed by a Baroque style blue and yellow cartouche, and is marked AQ CARBUNC. The bottle would have contained Aqua Carbunclus. Carbunclus is Latin for coal, and this solution was likely a mixture of water and coal, or another form of carbon.
This squat–shaped drug jar has a baluster-shaped body and a stepped flared foot. A yellow shield depicts a lion balanced on one hind leg, holding an orb with its two front paws. The shield is surrounded by an elaborate blue floral motif on a white glazed background with yellow rope bands at the neck and the rim of the foot.
A yellow and blue striped escroll is inscribed in black, PILL DE CINOGL OSS. The jar would have contained pills of cynoglossum. The herb cynoglossum, also known as hound’s-tongue, was used as a narcotic, sedative, astringent, and expectorant.
The jar was incorporated into the Squibb Ancient Pharmacy Collection when it was purchased at auction in 1935 from the American Art Association Anderson Galleries in New York City.
The indications or uses for this product as provided on its packaging:
A mild cathartic. For biliousness, dizziness, nervous or sick headache, nausea, coated tongue, loss of appetite, bad taste in the mouth, sleepiness, sallow skin, dyspepsia and indigestion, sour stomach, caused by inactive or sluggish liver or constipated bowels.
The indications or uses for this product as provided on its packaging:
For scrofula, scrofulous humors, scald head, syphilitic affections, ringworms, eczema or salt rheum, boils, pimples and humors on the face, rheumatism, catarrh, headache, dizziness, faintness at the stomach, constipation, pains in the back, female weakness, general debility, costiveness, biliousness, and all diseases arising from an impure state or low condition of the blood. Sarsatabs assist nature to expel from the system all impure and effete matter through the lungs, liver, kidneys and skin, aid all weak and debilitated organs, invigorate the nervous system, and impart new life and energy.
A tabernacle is a religious structure or shrine where one can place offerings such as a monetary donation or a symbolic gesture for a wish or as thanks for an answered prayer.
This tabernacle shrine is a concave wooden form in the shape of an arch with rounded cusps and foils. The back of the wooden form is rough and looks as if it was meant be set into a niche. Two sheets of thin brass are molded and nailed to the top of the wooden form ending about two inches from the base. Inset into the arch at the top is a large repousse baroque shell. Below the shell is an apothecary cabinet created by a stamping technique, possibly repousse silver over brass.
The miniature apothecary has three sections of cabinets. The center cabinet protrudes (3 1/4") slightly. The cabinets are made of silver over brass with two round columns in the center. Apothecary jars sit on three rows of cabinets and four shelves. A decorative gallery extends across all three sections of the apothecary.
In the center of the tabernacle is the figure of Christ on the Cross made of molded silver over brass. Above the figure is a plaque engraved with the Latin initials "INRI", for Iesus Nazarenus Rex iudaeorum, in English, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
The nails that secure the shrine to the wooden “frame” appear to be modern, probably late 19th-century, suggesting the shrine was placed in the “frame” to keep it stable before being sold to collector Jo Mayer. There are no square holes in the wood which would indicate older nails.
George Urdang and F. W. Nitardy described the shrine in "The Squibb Ancient Pharmacy Catalogue", as a “votive tabernacle shrine in the form of an ancient pharmacy . . . made in the moderate-baroque style of the middle 18th century . . . . The tabernacle was a gift from a grateful patient to a Bavarian cloister pharmacy. It is said to be the work of gold and silversmiths of Augsburg . . .” After close inspection, the gold colored metal appears to be brass, although the metalsmith did use silver over brass for the cabinets and apothecary jars.
It is interesting to note, in his article, “Rarities and Antiques in the Collection of Jo Mayer,” Ferchl writes that the shrine was procured "through various channels of the art trade into the haven of the Wiesbaden collection." Though obscure, this is the only reference found to date indicating how any of Mayer's collection were acquired.
This glass bottle has a baked enamel label marked TINCT MART APERIY ZW. The European Apothecary Collection contains dozens of drug jars with this same embellishment. The generic blue and yellow decoration with its stylized crown above the cartouche is similar to glass drug jars in the collection of the Deutsche Apotheken Museum in Heidelberg, Germany.
This is a blue, yellow and green tin glazed waisted drug jar. The jar is decorated with a painted female mythological figure with a swan in one hand and flowers in the other, set against a landscape. On either side of the figure are vertical bands of foliage. An escrol above the figure is marked “THERIACA ANDROMACHI.” Theriac, an opium compound, was thought to be a panacea for a variety of diseases and an antidote for poison. Andromachus served as the Roman Emperor Nero’s physician, and this opium compound would have contained his formulation of the medicine.
This blue monochrome albarello-shaped drug jar has a stylized cobalt-blue floral motif with a cross-hatch band just above the shoulder and foot. An escroll in the center of the container is inscribed in gothic script, u dialtea. This jar would have contained Unguentum Dialthaea, an ointment made from the gummy extract of the roots of the Althaea officinalis, also known as the Marshmallow. The ointment was used to soothe irritated throats and to relieve coughs.
This waisted drug jar has a flared foot with a deep blue glaze over a white background. The jar is decorated with stylized flowers and leaves on the upper and lower shoulders. The label at the center of the waist is marked Ung Bphonir. The jar would have contained some type of unguentum, or ointment. This jar belongs to a set of drug containers seen in objects 1991.0664.0589 through 1991.0664.0596.
This free blown green glass container has a long neck, a slightly flared lip, a round squat body, and a twisted spout. Florentine bottles were used for the distillation of flower oils.
This albarello has a white glazed background and blue decorative motifs. Inside the oval medallion is a spotted white dog with a gold crown above. Decorative bands of blue flowers and birds just above and below the shoulder. The jar, marked “GRAS D’BECHO,” would have contained the herb Coltsfoot, which was used as a cough suppressant.
This blown and molded square–shaped bottle has a baked enamel white oval cartouche that is outlined with blue vines, red and yellow flowers, and a three-pointed crown. The cartouche is marked ESS LIGNOR", and the Roman numeral "V" is etched into the bottle above the center of the crown. The jar would have contained Essentia Lignorum, or essence of wood. Essentia Lignorum was used to cure “foulness of the blood.”
This blown and molded square-shaped bottle has a narrow neck and a flared lip. The baked white enamel shield is framed by stylized blue leaves with red and yellow flowers. A yellow crown sits on the top of the shield. The alchemical symbols for spirits, salt and herbs are marked in black just above ANIS. which would have referred to the plant anise hyssop steeped in an alcohol solution with the ash of plant mixed into the solution. The solution would have been used as an expectorant or antiseptic.
This blown and molded bottle has a label which reads ESS AMARA HALL in black text, with the first initial of each word in red. The bottle would have contained Essence of amara Hallensis. Essence of amara Hallensis was also known as a tincture of absinthii kalina, which was composed of a tincture of absinthe, amarae, aromaticae, and liquid potassium carbonate. It was most commonly prescribed as a stomachic.
This blown and molded square-shaped bottle has a narrow neck and a flared lip. The baked white enamel shield is framed by stylized blue leaves with red flowers. A yellow crown sits on the top of the shield. The alchemical symbol for spirits is above the word CAMPHOR. Camphor was often used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic. It is a gummy, aromatic substance obtained from the Camphor Laurel or cinnamomum camphora found in China, Japan, and Taiwan. Externally Camphor was applied to the skin as a liniment.