Following are images of the apothecary -- a sort of pharmacist or druggist -- and the apothecary's shop. Click here (or scroll down this page) to see extant examples of apothecary jars and containers, as well as other assorted depictions of them.
See also the apothecary museums at Heidelberg , Brixen , Krakow , and Troyes .
APOTHECARIES
An apothecary in a southern French collection of medical treatises (SBB Lat. qu. 198), 1132Abû Zayd practices medicine , Maqâmât 47 (BNF Arabe 6094, fol. 174), 1222-1223Abû Zayd practices medicine (fol. 154v) and
Abû Zaid requests payment (fol. 155v),
Maqâmât 47 (BNF Arabe 5847), 1236-1237An apothecary's shop , Circa instans (British Library Sloane 1977, fol. 49v), c. 1300-1310Theriac , Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673, fol. 87v), c. 1390-1400The apothecary , Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 1165, fol. 42), end of the 14th or beginning of the 15th centuryTheriac , Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF Latin 9333, fol. 51v), 15th centuryThe apothecary (fol. 251v) and an apothecary's shop (fol. 261), Schachzabelbuch des Konrad von Ammenhausen (WLB Cod. poet. 2, fol. 251v), 1467The apothecary , Schachzabelbuch (ÖNB 3049, fol. 132v), 1479The apothecary , Liber de Moribus hominum (BNF Fr. 2000, fol. 33), 1480-1485An apothecary's pharmacy , Livre des propriétés des choses (BNF Fr. 218, fol. 111), end of the 15th centuryAn apothecary's shop , fresco at Issogne, late 15th-early 16th centuryA doctor in a pharmacy with a pupil from a book on surgery (GNM HB 26129), 1497The bazaar at Kûfa , Mahzan al-Asrâr (BNF supp. turc 978, fol. 41), first half of the 16th centuryPortrait of Pierre Quthe, apothecary by François Clouet, 1562Portrait of Cyriakus Schnauss by Mathis Zündt, 1565The apothecary , Eigentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auf Erden , 1568Christ as an apothecary , c. 1580Portrait of Andreas Heindel , 1597 APOTHECARY JARS
The illustrations above show the apothecary in front of shelves of containers of materia medica . Following are actual examples of those containers, as well as other assorted depictions of such containers.
A few of the containers are better known by their Italian names: the most common of these terms are the albarello (usually a cylindrical jar, often containing ointments) and the orciuolo (a large oval jar, often with two handles, for liquids).
Mary Magdalene is often depicted with a small apothecary jar; according to Magdalene.org ,
This jar is meant to remind the viewer of Mary Magdalene's role as the woman who went to the tomb to anoint Jesus after the Sabbath, only to find him resurrected. To the extent that Mary Magdalene was believed to have been the woman who performed the anointing before the crucifixion, the jar was related to that scene as well.
Albarello jar made in Samarkand in the 10th centuryStorage jar (albarello) made in Iran in the late 13th or early 14th centuryJar made in Egypt or Syria in the beginning of the 14th century (another view )Albarello with fleur-de-lys decoration made in Syria in the first half of the 14th centuryAlbarello with pseudo-Kufic letters , made in Paterna in the 14th centuryAlbarello with two rabbits , made in Paterna in the 14th centuryAlbarello in fritware with blue decoration, made in Syria in the 14th centuryAlbarello with geometric ornament made in Manises c. 1400-1420Albarello made in Manises c. 1400-1425Albarello made in Manises c. 1400-1425Albarello made in Manises c. 1400-1425Relief-blue jar with harpies and birds made in Florence (attributed to the workshop of Piero di Mazeo and Company) c. 1420-1440Oakleaf jars attributed to the workshop of Giunta di Tugio, Florence
Jar with oakleaf decoration made in Florence c. 1430Jar with a lion made in Florence c. 1430Jar with oakleaf decoration and a lion and the mark of the Santa Nuova Hospital made in Florence c. 1431Jar with oakleaf decoration made in Florence c. 1450Jar made in Tuscany c. 1450Albarello made in Tuscany, c. 1450Jar with foliate decoration made in Montelupo c. 1450Jar with a Kufic pattern made in the Florentine area in the mid-1400sSt. Mary Magdalene from a predella by Gabriel Häring, c. 1452-1461Detail from St. Cosmas and St. Damian in the Andreasaltar at the church of St. Agidius in Bardejov, c. 1455-1465Pharmacy bottles decorated with greyhounds chasing hares made in Faenza c. 1460-80Detail of St. Damian from an altarpiece from Blühnbach, c. 1470-1500Apothecary jar (albarello) made in or near Florence c. 1470-1490St. Mary Magdalene from a Steiermark altarpiece, c. 1475-1485Albarello made in Faenza, c. 1480Apothecary jar (orciolo) made in or near Florence c. 1480-1520 Detail from the Eggelsberg altarpiece, 1481St. Mary Magdalene from a Bad Goisern altarpiece, c. 1490-1500Detail from The Death of Mary by Friedrich Pacher, c. 1490-1500Four small glass bottles and three small glass bottles from Regensburg, 15th and 16th centuriesJar with a woman and geese made in Deruta or Montelupo, c. 1500-1525Albarello (inscribed "VA T'EN QUITTE") made in Beauvais c. 1500-1536An imported medicine jar from Beauvais c. 1500-1550Albarello with nymph and satyr made in Deruta in 1507Cylindrical drug jar made in Faenza c. 1510Albarello with grotesques and ornamental bands made in Siena c. 1510-1515Pharmacy jar made in Siena in 1515Mary Magdalene by Ambrosius Benson, c. 1530Pottery, pewter, and wooden medicine containers (and what they contained ), and wooden utensils , from the barber-surgeon's chest on the Mary Rose , 1545Albarello by Masséot Abaquesne c. 1545Albarello by Masséot Abaquesne, mid-16th centuryDrug jar (albarello), made in Nîmes or Montpellier c. 1550 (V&A C.242-1931 )
Tall drug jar with two infants riding a griffin made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th centuryAlbarello with the bust of a woman made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th centuryTall drug jar with Cleopatra contemplating an asp made at the workshop of Orazio Pompeii in Castelli in the mid-16th centuryDrug jar (albarello), made in Nîmes c. 1550-1600 (V&A C.88-1944 )
Drug jar (albarello), made in Nîmes in the late 16th century (V&A C.1-1935 )
Drug jar (albarello), made in Nîmes or Montpellier in the late 16th century (V&A C.149-1951 )
Drug jar (albarello), made in Montpellier c. 1575-1625 (V&A C.300-1938 )
Wet drug jar (albarello), made in Montpellier or Bruxelles c. 1575-1625 (V&A C.303-1938 )
Wet drug jar (albarello), made in Nîmes c. 1580 (V&A C.150-1951 )
Albarellos with the Annunciation and St. Frances of Rome and the angel , made at the workshop of Jean Estève in Montpelier at the end of the 16th century
