Images(2)

Oversize dry drug jar

Date1720 -1740

OriginEngland, London

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware)

DimensionsJar H: 13 3/4"; lid: 6 1/4"; OH: 19 1/4" (48.9 cm.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1947-199

DescriptionBaluster-shaped jar with high spreading foot, cylindrical neck, domed cover with socket and flange, and large knop finial. White tin glaze decorated in blue: on one side, the standard trumpeting cherub cartouche and the inscription "E:DIASCORDIUM"; on the other side, a peacock on a rock surrounded by flowering branches; on the cover, a variation of the peacock design; and on the lower part of the jar, panels with stylized flowers.
Label TextElectuarium Diascordium dates from the sixteenth century, when it was considered an important remedy against plague. The original formula, included in the LONDON PHARMACOPOEIA of 1618, contained seventeen ingredients, the main ones being cinnamon, cassia, galbanum, opium, gentian, Lemnian earth, and Canary wine. In the eighteenth century, this electuary became popular as an opiate and astringent.

Elaborate drug jars of this type were as much for show as for use. A jar in the collection of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain of the same size, form, and decoration (but with its cover missing) has songbirds instead of trumpeting cherubs and a V instead of a U in DIASCORDIUM. A privately owned jar with the same songbirds but with a less flaring and differently painted lower section is inscribed "IP 1741."
Inscribed"E DIASCORDIUM"
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceHenry W. Kiel, Worcestershire, England

Exhibition(s)