The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

Pharmacy Jar (Albarello)

c. 1475–80

Italy, Florentine region, Cafaggiolo

tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Overall: 30.5 cm (12 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1941.550
Location: 118 Italian Renaissance

Did You Know?

At various points in history, medicinal peony compounds have been prescribed for dizziness, weakness, hysteria, jaundice, and kidney stones.

Description

Storage jars that lined the shelves of Renaissance pharmacies often held medicinal herbs, spices, and ointments. Their shape made them easy to grasp while the flared lip allowed apothecaries to seal off the contents with parchment or cloth secured by a string. A scroll on the back of this vessel indicates that it may have once held a peony compound.
  • –1938
    Charles Damiron (Lyon, France)
    Kurt Glogowski. (Frederic A. Stern, New York).
    1938
    (Sotheby's, London, England, June 16, 1938)
  • Sotheby's. Catalogue of the Very Choice Collection of Old Italian Majolica and Hispoano-Moresque Ware. June 16, 1938.Sotheby's: London, 1938. Lot 68.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 219 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 85 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 85 archive.org
    Cole, Bruce. Italian Maiolica from Midwestern Collections. Bloomington: Indiana University Art Museum, 1977.
    Published as: Drug Pot Reproduced: p. 34; Mentioned: p. 35, cat. no. 10
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 96 archive.org
  • Italian Majolica from Midwestern Collections. Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, IN (organizer) (September 4-October 8, 1977).
    Florence and the Arts: Five Centuries of Patronage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 13-September 19, 1971).
  • {{cite web|title=Pharmacy Jar (Albarello)|url=false|author=|year=c. 1475–80|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.550