Pharmacy Jar (Albarello) (c. 1450): Art, History and Details

Pharmacy Jar (Albarello) (c. 1450) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The albarello—a name of uncertain origin—was a pharmacist's jar used to hold dried herbs or medicinal compounds. It was usually closed by means of a piece of parchment or cloth stretched over its mouth and tied with a string. Its characteristic concave sides offered an easy grip to facilitate handling. This large albarello is one of the best of a small number of exquisitely decorated blue-and-white pieces produced in Tuscany in the mid-1400s.

Object facts

• Title: Pharmacy Jar (Albarello)
• Date: c. 1450
• Culture: Italy, Tuscany
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica)
• Dimensions: Overall: 34.3 x 15.9 cm (13 1/2 x 6 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1954.258

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cole, Bruce. Italian Maiolica from Midwestern Collections. [Bloomington, Ind.]: Indiana University Art Museum, September 4-October 8, 1977.

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.