What Is a Drug Jar?
When packaging medicine was an art
Jar with a Man Leaning on a Crutch, early 16th century, Italian. Tin-glazed earthenware, 9 3/4 × 6 1/4 × 5 1/16 in. Getty Museum, 84.DE.112.1
Body Content
How do you describe a work of art?
With art terms, of course! We’ve heard your questions about works of art at Getty, and we’re here to answer your Frequently Asked Art Questions (FAAQs).
Today, we’re discussing storing medication the medieval way: in drug jars. There are many of these delightful items in our collection. Let’s talk about them.
Watch the video, or read on below!
Did you know that drug stores once displayed museum-quality art? In the middle ages, during the early days of over-the-counter medicine, drugs were kept in ornately-decorated storage containers called drug jars.
If you needed Oil of Earthworms for your joint pain, or tincture of hare’s bladder for your cataracts, you’d find it in the large, brightly decorated drug jars on shelves in the apothecary/pharmacy on your high street.
Unable to read? No worries, the drug jars often displayed beautiful imagery representing what ailed you, painted right on the jar by a talented artisan.
Drug Jar for Persian Philonium, about 1520-1540, Italian. Tin-glazed earthenware, 14 9/16 × 4 15/16 × 6 1/2 in. Getty Museum, 84.DE.105
We have a variety of drug jars in our collection. Some jars featured the name of the drug in the design. This container of “Persian philonium,” a compound made of opium and pearls for period pain, works the name into the jar’s design.
Drug Jar for Mithridate and Drug Jar for Theriac, about 1580, Attributed to Annibale Fontana. Terracotta with white paint and gilt exterior and glazed interior. Getty Museum, 90.SC.42
Others displayed illustrated backstories. If you want the best cure around, going with what’s in the gold jars seems like a safe bet. This pair of concoctions features scenes from the ironic life and death of the inventor of this highly-prized cure-all.
Drug Jar for Syrup of Lemon Juice, about 1480, Italian. Tin-glazed earthenware, 12 3/8 × 4 3/8 × 4 7/8 in. Getty Museum, 84.DE.104
Drug jars weren’t just beautiful, they were engineered. Many drug jars were made of earthenware covered in a lead and tin oxide glaze so that they could hold liquids for a long time. Some could even be resealed–covers for the jars could be made out of paper, leather, or cloth tied with a string–to preserve freshness.
Eventually, these ornate, ceramic drug jars were replaced with glass and then the popular plastic orange bottles we use today.
What other art terms or objects are you curious about? Let us know at stories[at]getty.edu.
