The Apothecary’s Shelf

The Apothecary’s Shelf is an exhibition of vessels used in the dispensing of medicines, and traces the development of two vigorous decorative traditions, drug pots of tin-glazed earthenware and mortars made of bronze. From the 15th to the 18th century apothecaries’ shops and hospital pharmacies were furnished with handsome sets of these jars and spouted pots, ranged in tiers and proudly inscribed with the names of their contents. Fine mortars were prominently displayed and became, indeed, the symbols par excellence of the apothecary’s art.

These objects have long been collected for their aesthetic merit and exhibited in major ceramic collections alongside the decorative and household wares with which they share stylistic affinities. They are also prized for the light they throw upon the history of medical and pharmaceutical practice, and have been gathered in specialized collections better known to doctors, pharmacists and historians of science than to the art museum public. The present exhibition and catalogue have been designed to bring the two approaches into closer relationship, to provide an opportunity to consider fine works of craftsmanship within the context of their intended use and to explore an important chapter in the history of patronage of the so-called ‘applied arts’.

Sourced from: catalogue by Margaret Legge, former Curator of Ceramics and Antiquities