The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s museum has been awarded
a £5,000 grant towards the costs of cleaning and conservation work on
its collection of British and Continental tin glazed earthenware drug jars.
The grant, from the London Museums Agency, will help fund work on the collection
by expert ceramics conservator Penelope Fisher.
The museum’s successful application for grant assistance follows a survey
by Mrs Fisher of the condition of 320 items in the collection. Museum curator
Caroline Reed commissioned the survey late in 1999. She was concerned that,
although the jars had been treasured and regularly displayed, few had benefited
from scrutiny by a professional conservator since coming into the Society’s
care. Mrs Fisher found that many of the jars were weakened by hairline cracks
or by old, sometimes crude, repairs. Some had fragile, lifting glazing and almost
all needed careful cleaning. The museum’s successful application for grant
assistance means that Mrs Fisher will be able to complete her work on the collection
early in 2001.
Ms Reed told The Journal that many of the museum’s drug jars dated from
as early as the 17th century. “As well as some impressive continental pieces,
the museum holds one of the best and most varied collections of ‘English
delftware’ apothecary jars in Britain,” she said.