The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Pair of Pharmacy Bottles

Pair of Pharmacy Bottles

c. 1500–1510
tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
Overall: 38.8 cm (15 1/4 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.52
Location: 118 Italian Renaissance

Did You Know?

During the Renaissance, aristocrats tested the speed and agility of their greyhounds in a sport called “hare coursing.”

Description

The inscriptions on these two pharmacy bottles suggest that they held medicinal and domestic remedies. One bottle reads SCABIOS, or “scabious water,” which may refer to a teasel root compound that was used to clean and decontaminate velvet. Inscribed on the other bottle is the word CAPILLV, which was a liquid extracted from a fern-like plant commonly referred to as “maiden’s hair water.”
  • (F. A. Drey, London).
  • Milliken, William M. "Italian Majolica." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 1 (January 1944): 7-15.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.2) reproduced. Mentioned: p. 10, Reproduced: pp. 13-14 25141102
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.1) mentioned and reproduced. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 217 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.1) reproduced. Reproduced: p. 84 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.1) reproduced. Reproduced: p. 84 archive.org
    Cole, Bruce. Italian Maiolica from Midwestern Collections. Bloomington: Indiana University Art Museum, 1977.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.2) mentioned & reproduced. Published as Drug Bottle. Mentioned: p. 36, cat. no. 11; Reproduced: p. 37 library.clevelandart.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
    Only Pharmacy Bottle (1943.52.1) reproduced. Published as Drug Bottle. Reproduced: p. 97 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 39, fig. 41
  • No existing exhibition history.
  • {{cite web|title=Pair of Pharmacy Bottles|url=false|author=|year=c. 1500–1510|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.52