Send an E-Postcard of:
Drug Jar
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.
Drug jars like this one were usually oviform in shape and were owned most frequently by physicians. The form, very often decorated in cobalt with a cartouche design draped with swags and tassels, was made in England for a period of 100 years, beginning about 1675. Within the cartouche the legend "P Coch[leria]" the "P" indicates the form of the drug, pilulae or pill; "Coch[leria]" refers to the herb, scurvy grass. To protect the contents, the owner laid a cloth across the opening and a string secured it in place. Unlike English physicians, American doctors frequently doubled as pharmacists, concocting the medicines they prescribed.
top of page
|
|