{"id":2931,"date":"2023-07-05T15:11:51","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T14:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/illuminating-objects\/?page_id=2931"},"modified":"2023-07-05T18:41:52","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T17:41:52","slug":"early-pharmaceutical-practice","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.courtauld.ac.uk\/illuminating-objects\/illuminating-objects-home\/cryptic-vessel\/early-pharmaceutical-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Early pharmaceutical practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In terms of use, Renaissance pharmacy jars are not that different from the labelled bottles filled with syrup or pills found in pharmacies today. These jars were primarily used to preserve ingredients or prepared remedies in solid or liquid form<\/span>.<\/span> As mentioned, pharmacy jars were mainly earthenware pottery<\/span> covered<\/span> with a tin <\/span>glaze and painted with vivid colours. The tin oxide in the glazing was used as an opacifier<\/span> to block and prevent light from damaging the ceramic body. However, it may also have had chemical reactions with the substances contained in the jar<\/span>; <\/span>in fact, fragmented glazing can be seen on the inside surface of the pharmacy jar we selected for this project. <\/span>Those reactions could result in a loss of the active ingredient which might convert to different compounds and thus compromise the therapeutic effect of the medicine; even worse, they could introduce toxic impurities and cause adverse effects<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

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Close-up images of the pharmacy jar (inside). Photo \u00a9 The Courtauld.<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The size of most pharmacy jars suggests that they usually served as a reservoir for ingredients, which<\/span> pharmacists would distribute into specific dosages, according to a given prescription<\/span>. <\/span>T<\/span>he shape of these vessels also provides some clues about<\/span> their use. This one<\/span> has a cylindrical shape with no spout (called in Italian an <\/span>albarello<\/span><\/i>), which <\/span>indicates that it was meant to store solid materials rather than liquids<\/span>. It originally had<\/span>\u00a0handles<\/span> (which are today <\/span>missing), and these were used to carry the jar, which when filled would have been useful<\/span>. <\/span>The jar has a short neck with an everted rim on the top. It d<\/span>oes not<\/span> have a fitted lid, which one might <\/span>assumed such a storage jar would have had<\/span>.<\/span> However, instead of a ceramic lid, it was probably sealed at the top by a piece of parchment, which practitioners of the pharmacy would secure with<\/span> some string.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of these jars, such as<\/span> the beautiful examples displayed the permanent galleries at The Courtauld, have inscriptions on the front specifying<\/span> what their content<\/span> would be<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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