Pharmacy Bottle (c. 1500–1510): Art, History and Details

Pharmacy Bottle (c. 1500–1510) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Pharmacy bottles that lined the shelves of Renaissance pharmacies often held medicinal herbs, spices, and ointments. The inscription on this bottle reads SCABIOS, or “scabious water,” which may refer to a teasel root compound that was used to clean and decontaminate velvet.

Object facts

• Title: Pharmacy Bottle
• Date: c. 1500–1510
• Culture: Italy, Papal States, Faenza
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
• Dimensions: Overall: 38.8 cm (15 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1943.52.1

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.