Drug Jar
date: label: date made
content: 1734
notes: label: Description
content: This straight walled drug container has a slightly flared lip and a whitish blue glaze. Historian George Urdang attributes this jar to the court pharmacy of Dresden. Within a blue rococo cartouche are the initials AR and the date 1734. The initials AR refer to Augustus Rex, King Augustus the Strong of Poland. Below and to the left is the coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1797), The mounted Lithuanian Vytis and the Polish Eagle are depicted. To the right is the coat of arms and the crossed swords of the Kingdom of Poland. The bottom of the container is also marked.
label: Description
content: It is interesting to note that the glaze of the blue cartouche has been fired. However, the other markings—the AR, the crown, the two coats of arms and the marking on the bottom of the container—appear to have been applied afterward by the cold painting technique. The date 1734 has been applied to the container below the initials “AR,” Augustus the Strong, King of Poland who died in 1733. A syrup jar from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, dated 1718 with the arms of the Electorate of Saxony and the Kingdom of Poland is depicted in Apothecary Jars: Pharmaceutical Pottery and Porcelain in Europe and the East 1150-1850 by Rudolf Drey.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: Germany
topic: label: Subject
content: Pharmacy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: European Apothecary
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content: Art
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Urdang, George and Ferdinand William Nitardy. The Squibb Ancient Pharmacy: A Catalogue of the Collection
label: Related Publication
content: Drey, Rudolf E.A.. Apothecary Jars
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0664.0715
label: accession number
content: 1991.0664
label: catalog number
content: M-05927
label: collector/donor number
content: SAP 639
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0664.0715
objectType: label: Object Name
content: jar
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ceramic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21.1 cm x 14 cm; 8 5/16 in x 5 1/2 in