Seven fine-quality, hand-finished replica jars are available for purchase from the Museum. The seven jars available are all copied from original objects held in the Museum's collections. They are hand-finished and marked on the base with ROYAL PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN. Each jar is supplied with a information sheet providing details of the original jar and its contents.
The jars are available by mail order direct from the Museum. To place an order, please print off the order form supplied here, and send with your remittance to the address given. The order form is a PDF (read only) file.
Click here for the Museum mail order sales form.
The prices given below are for the jars themselves. The additional mail order postal charge within the UK, for Europe and the rest of the world is given on the mail order form.
The jars available are:
Blood letting was a universal practice amongst
the ancient Greeks and Romans, and it continued through the centuries.
By the 1700s, leeches were used by physicians and apothecaries instead
of opening a vein. The jar in the Museum's collection is a fine example
of a nineteenth century glazed earthenware show jar for leeches.
The replica jars are 15cm high.
Price: £50
The original English dry drug jar was made in tin
glazed earthenware and is of the type often described as "London," or
even "Lambeth Delftware." Many of the small potteries that made such
jars were established along the south bank of the River Thames, very
near to the Society's present headquarters at 1 Lambeth High Street.
The original jar is rare in that its fine decoration is worked in
a number of colours beside the basic blue. The inscription on the
jar, C:CORT: AUR, is an abbreviation of the Latin Conditus Cortex
Aurantiorum, meaning candied orange peel. This was used for flavour
and as a mild stomachic, to warm and strengthen the stomach. The
replica jars are 16cm high.
Price: £56
The original syrup jar is also "Lambeth Delftware." It
is in the more traditional blue and white style of pots, directly
influenced by Dutch designs. The jar is a fine, dated "wet" or "syrup" jar
with a spout for pouring out its liquid contents. The inscription
on the jar, S ROSAR. CU AG, is an abbreviation of the Latin Syrupus
Rosaceus Solutivus cum Agarico, solutive syrup of rose with agaric.
It was used to treat a variety of conditions including scurvy, and
as an astringent. The replica jars are 18cm high.
Price: £86
The original jar was made in tin-glazed earthenware, or delftware. The original jar is rare in that its decoration is in a variety of colours alongside the usual blue. The inscription on the jar, P COCH MAJ, is an abbreviation of the Latin for cochia major pills. These were used as a strong laxative, with the ingredients hiera pica, alhandal troches, diagrydium, turpeth and syrup of buckthorn. The initials I.P. are those of the apothecary who commissioned the jar, and the date 1723 the year of its manufacture. The design features cherubs and shells.
The jar is 8.5cm high.
Price: £25
The original jar was made in tin-glazed earthenware, or delftware. The inscription on the jar, T DE VIPER, is an abbreviation of the Latin for viper lozenges. Often from Venice, they were renowned throughout Europe in the 1600s to prevent the plague and as an antidote to poisons. Their main use was as one of the many ingredients in the various Theriacs or treacles. Their ingredients included viper flesh boiled with salt and dill seed with white bread, kneaded into a paste with oil of nutmeg. The jar is decorated in blue with Apollo, the god of medicine, and two peacocks, and the original dates from around 1675-1700.
The jar is 8.5cm high.
Price: £25
The original jar was made in tin-glazed earthenware, or delftware. The inscription on the jar, T DE CARABE, is an abbreviation of the Latin for coral trochisi or lozenges. Coral lozenges predominantly contained amber, but also red coral, alongside a long list of ingredients including burnt hartshorn, gum arabic, gum tragacanth, acacia, black poppy seeds, frankincense, saffron, and opium. They were made into lozenges by mixing with a mucilage of fleawort seeds made in plaintain-water. They were taken to treat haemorrhages and spitting blood. The jar is dated 1674, and its design in blue shows an angel with outspread wings, a popular motif for this period.
The jar is 8.5cm high
Price: £25
The original jar was made in tin-glazed earthenware, or delftware. The inscription on the jar, EXT CORT PERU, is an abbreviation of the Latin for extract of Peruvian bark. In the 1700s, when the original jar was made, the uses of Peruvian bark or cinchona were still much debated in medical circles. Peruvian bark was primarily used to treat fevers in this period. It was not recognised as a treatment for malaria until more than a century later. The jar is decorated in blue with songbirds.
The jar is 8.5cm high.
Price: £25
The jars and other merchandise including cards and books can also be bought in person from the Society's headquarters. If you are interested in purchasing a jar, please contact Museum staff for further information.
Contact:
020 7572 2210
museum@rpsgb.org
For further pharmacy replicas, click here to transfer to the website of the Museum's replica jar suppliers, Academica Ltd.