Museum adds four new replica jars to its range of merchandise
The four new replica jars added to the museum’s range of merchandise |
Four new replica jars have been added to the range of merchandise available from the museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. The hand-finished jars are all copies of delftware objects in the museum's collections.
The four original jars were made in the 1600s and 1700s to hold cochia
major pills, viper lozenges, coral lozenges and extract of Peruvian bark.
The pill jar is multicoloured and the others are white with blue designs.
All four original jars are smaller than most delftware drug jars, as
was typical for those holding pills or lozenges. The replicas follow
suit at 8.5cm height and 6.5cm diameter.
Cochia major pills, which had a number of ingredients, were used as a
strong laxative. The jar bears the initials I.P., which are those of
the apothecary who commissioned the jar, and the date 1723, the year
of its manufacture. The design features cherubs and shells.
Viper lozenges, often from Venice, were renowned throughout Europe in
the 1600s to prevent the plague and as an antidote to poisons. Their
main use was as one of the many ingredients in the various theriacs or
treacles. Their ingredients included viper flesh boiled with salt and
dill seed with white bread, kneaded into a paste with oil of nutmeg.
The jar is decorated with Apollo, the god of medicine, and two peacocks.
It dates from around 1675–1700.
Coral lozenges were taken to treat haemorrhages and spitting blood. They
predominantly contained amber, but also red coral, alongside a long list
of other ingredients. They were made by mixing the ingredients with a
mucilage of fleawort seeds made in plaintain-water. The jar is dated
1674, and its design shows an angel with outspread wings, a popular motif
for the period.
Extract of Peruvian bark is extract of cinchona bark. In the 1700s, when
the original jar was made, cinchona was primarily used to treat fevers.
It was not recognised as a treatment for malaria until more than a century
later. The jar is decorated with songbirds.
The jars are on sale for £25 each
(including VAT). The three existing replica jars are all still available — a
leech jar (£50), a dry drug storage jar (£56) and a syrup
jar (£86). All the jars can be bought in person at the library
issue desk or by mail order from the museum office (tel 020 7572 2210;
e-mail museum@rpsgb.org).
Full details of all museum merchandise, including images, can be found
on the museum
pages of the Society’s website.
An order form can be downloaded from the website.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal