Cantha-rid
date: label: date made
content: 18th century
notes: label: Description
content: This urn–shaped drug jar has a straight neck and a round, domed foot. The lid has a cone–shaped finial. The background glaze is grayish–white. A rectangular label is formed in the center of the jar by thin lines of brown, yellow and green, topped by a small cartouche. The frame is surrounded at its top and bottom by yellow and green vines and black beads. Correspondence in 1954 between Division of Medicine Associate Curator George Griffenhagen and George Urdang notes that the jars appear to be of Catalonian–Aragonese origin. The jar’s label reads <i>Cantha rid.</i> Cantharidin is more widely known as Spanish Fly, a secretion from the male blister beetle. Cantharidin is used as an aphrodisiac and as a blistering agent, an alternative to cupping.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
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
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: 1991.0664.0563
label: collector/donor number
content: SAP 487
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0664.0563.01
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0664.0563.02
label: catalog number
content: M-05575
label: accession number
content: 1991.0664
objectType: label: Object Name
content: jar
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: ceramic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 28.7 cm x 14.5 cm; 11 5/16 in x 5 23/32 in