This blown and molded square glass bottle has a flared lip and a baked enamel cartouche with a white shield which is framed by blue stylized leaves and yellow ribbon and capped by a crown. It is marked TR. RHE. APU.
This blown and molded glass jar has a baked enamel label marked, TR THEBUIC. The jar would have contained tincture of thebaica. The tincture was made by letting opium steep in two pints of alcohol. The resulting tincture was used as a sedative, a narcotic, an antitussive, or an antidiarrheal.
This waisted drug jar has a flared foot and 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, Cinms Cassia Donz. The jar would have contained the plant Cinnamon cassia, also known as Cinnamomum aromaticum. The plant was often used in alcoholic solutions as a mild tonic. This jar belongs to a set of drug containers seen in objects 1991.0664.0589 through 1991.0664.0596.
This blown and molded bottle is marked ESS PINI, and would have contained the Essence of Pine. Pini would have referred to a variety of different evergreen pine trees whose sap or distilled leaves would have been used as a diuretic, diaphoretic, detergent, or cathartic.
This blown glass urn-shaped drug jar has a long neck and applied foot. The neck in this object has broken. The label has been applied using a cold Paint technique rather than being baked or fused with high heat. The label is a gold oval outlined in red with the text Oleum ae Valerian in black. The jar would have contained oil of valerian, prepared from valerian root. Oil of valerian was sometimes used as a mild sedative and as an anticonvulsant for epilepsy.
This blown and molded square–shaped glass bottle has a narrow neck and rounded shoulders. The bottle has a baked enamel label framed by a baroque–style blue and yellow cartouche. The label is marked TINCT BENZOES, and would have contained a tincture of benzoin (also known as Friar’s Balsam or Jesuit Drops) which was made from benzoin resin, and aloe steeped in alcohol for weeks. The tincture was used as an external liniment for sores or wounds or ingested as an intestinal tonic.
This blue and white albarello dates to the 17th century and is attributed to the city of Faenza, Italy. The jar has a flared neck, and likely would have been used as a medicine container. The jar bears the image of a house or other architectural structure that is rendered with a painterly quality and is surrounded by stylized flowers and vines. The back of the container is white.
Blown and molded rectangular shaped bottle with rounded shoulders. The label, applied with a cold color technique is an oval shield framed by green and red leaves with a shell. The label is marked with the alchemical symbol for salt and is marked POLYCR.
This square-shaped bottle is marked SPIR CARMIN SYLV. The European Apothecary Collection contains dozens of drug jars with this same embellishment. The bottle would have contained Spirit of Carminative. Carminatives are used to prevent or expel gastrointestinal gas.
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 waisted drug jar has a white background decorated with stylized garlands of blue and orange flowers surrounded by green leaves. The waist has a band of gothic–style letters that read Ung Santalinum. The foot has a green wash and the lid has a band of blue flowers. The lid has a crack down the center and the finial has broken off. Historian George Urdang attributes this piece to mid–eighteenth century Strasbourg. The jar would have contained Unguentum santalum, or ointment from the "Santalum", or sandalwood tree. The oils from sandalwood were well known for their strong aromas, and were used as an antivenereal and astringent.
Satirical image of moonstruck charlatans offering quacks cures for cholera, probably created at the time of the cholera epidemic of 1831-1832. The inscription reads “DIE MONDSÜCHTIGEN / oder / allerneuste Gespensterfurcht ver der so gräfslich genannten / aber schon seit Jahrtausenden bekannten—Cholera.”
This square-shaped glass bottle has a baked enamel label marked SPIR MATRICAL. Matricaria contains the leaves of the Feverfew plant, a European herb.
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 blown and molded glass bottle is marked "SPIRIT MURIAT AH.” Muriaticum was used as a tonic, diuretic, and antiseptic.
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 small earthenware jar was made to contain extracts used in the preparations of apothecary medicines. The jar has a label that is marked “Extract Salicis.” It would have contained white willow bark extract, salicin, which becomes salicylic acid, a forerunner of aspirin.
This blue monochrome albarello is decorated with cobalt blue vines and leaves. The escroll in the center of the container is marked in gothic script that reads Ell di Sebesten. Albarelli with wide mouths held dry bulk materia medica. Inscriptions of the jar's contents begin to appear about 1450. This jar would have contained Sebestena, the sweet plum fruit from the Cordia myxa tree that was used to soothe the throat.
This glass jar has a broken lip. The blue and white baked enamel label is marked AQUA PRUN PADI in black text. Prunus padus is a species of cherry tree native to Europe. Its leaves and flowers would have been distilled in water to make Aqua Prunus Padus. The solution was used as a narcotic and a digestive. It would have contained hydrocyanic acid, which is poisonous in large amounts.
This dark green blown glass jar has a wide mouth to accommodate dried plant material. The label is marked L SANCTI with the alchemical symbol for powder above. The label is applied with the cold paint method. Unlike the enamel labels, there is no baking involved. Therefore it is not unusual to find the label has been badly scratched and suffered severe paint loss.
The decoration appears as an upside–down heart outlined in red with a stylized flower at the top. Lignum Sancti, also known as holy wood or guaicacum, consisted of the powdered leaves, resin, and wood from the Guiacum officiale tree. The powder had medicinal properties and was used as an antivenereal (curative for venereal diseases), a stimulant, and a cathartic.