Delft. <em>Drug Pot, One of a Set</em>, ca. 1714. Tin-glazed earthenware, 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (14.6 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 64.241.54. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 64.241.54_acetate_bw.jpg)

Delft. Drug Pot, One of a Set, ca. 1714. Tin-glazed earthenware, 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (14.6 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 64.241.54. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 64.241.54_acetate_bw.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is a drug pot?

Drug pots were vessels made in sets to store and mix medicines and other natural ingredients. Notice that the vessel has a small “waist” that would allow a pharmacist to grab hold of one jar without disturbing others on the shelf. The pot would be covered with a cloth or stretched skin that would be tied under the wide lip.

Hello! The display says Chinese blue & white pottery was made with white clay but delftware that was earthenware covered with a tin glaze... what's the difference?

Great question! The Chinese blue and white ceramics on view are made of porcelain. Porcelain is a very specific type of ceramic body, made from a pure white clay called kaolin, and porcelain stone. It is fired to a very high temperature to create a material that is very white, translucent, and rings when stuck; it becomes vitreous like glass and can hold boiling hot water without cracking!

Delftware, like other European attempts to make a local version of expensive imported porcelain, was limited by the materials. Without the knowledge of the recipe for porcelain, or technology to fire at high temperatures, potters improvised to create vessels that mimicked porcelain, but lacked porcelain’s translucency and resistance to heat. The clay used in delftware (which is called “maiolica” in Italy and “faience” in France), is humble earthenware clay that can be found in most places in the world in low-lying regions such as river beds, where it collects iron and other minerals that gives it a dark earthy color. To create a white surface that resembled porcelain, potters covered pieces in a tin glaze. If you look closely at pieces of delftware that have been chipped, you will see the reddish earthenware body below; meanwhile, if you broke a piece of true porcelain, it would be white the whole way through!

Oh wow that's so informative, thank you! I've always wondered about this!

Tell me more.

This "Drug Pot" would have likely been found on the shelves of a pharmacist. They were used to not only mix but hold medicines. Drug jars of this form held dry ingredients that could be combined to make up "prescriptions".

You'll notice that the vessel has a small waist which would have made it easy to grab hold of without disturbing the others on the shelf. There is also a wide lip that would be useful for securing coverings like cloth or stretched skin that needed to be tied.

The rabbit motif was very popular at the time. Trained potters would have a set of stock motifs that they would use again and again.

What kind of drugs would have been kept in this drug pot? Medicinal? Recreational? How do we know this beautiful earthenware piece was a "drug pot?"

The shape of the vessel is what tells us it's a "drug pot." This shape originated with pharmacists (so, medicinal drugs) in the Middle East where it is referred to as an "albarello." It was used to hold dry ingredients that could be mixed together to for drugs or what we might think of as prescriptions.

Cool!

Isn't it!? From the Middle East, the form spread to Europe. The rabbit design here was popular with many Dutch potters of the 18th century.

I saw a lot of woodland creature scenes in blue and white in Amsterdam. They do like their cute animals!

Interesting! This rabbit motif can also be found on many tiles from this period. Trained pottery painters would often have a set of stock motifs that they would use again and again.

I see!

What kind of drugs went in this pot?

This pot was used by a pharmacist in an apothecary to hold dry ingredients that could be mixed together to for drugs or what we might think of as prescriptions.

Do you notice the slightly flared lip? This allowed a piece of cloth or animal skin to be stretched over the top and snugly tied. The curved waist made for easy grasping with many jars lined up side by side on a shelf.

Oh yeah I do see that!

Very cool. Thank you!

Drug Pot, One of a Set

Decorative Arts and Design

MAKER Delft

MEDIUM Tin-glazed earthenware

DATES ca. 1714

DIMENSIONS 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (14.6 x 11.4 cm) (show scale)

MARKINGS "CN / 1714" on side

SIGNATURE no signature

INSCRIPTIONS no inscriptions

COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts and Design

ACCESSION NUMBER 64.241.54

CREDIT LINE Anonymous gift

EXHIBITIONS

Infinite Blue

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Delft. Drug Pot, One of a Set, ca. 1714. Tin-glazed earthenware, 5 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (14.6 x 11.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Anonymous gift, 64.241.54. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 64.241.54_acetate_bw.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 64.241.54_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.