Posted 3 years ago
kivatinitz
(342 items)
Since so many time ago, I wanted a pharmacy pot, but all the ones we found were in bad conditions, till we find this one in November 2021, it was not cheap but my birthday was near and the piece is great, nothing broken. It has about 29 cm high. On the bottom you can see the incisions as roman figures so common in Old Paris porcelain, mainly from Limoges. This one is very old since it was fired in firewood oven; there are a few black inclusions in the white porcelain.
In fact, I was also attracted by the motif, an aborigine woman wearing a pale blue dress. It clearly state that it was done to contain quinine, as claim the painted label. Over the label there is two snakes that contain a medallion, inside this there is the portrait of an aborigine man. The whole picture is about the origin of the world's first anti-malarial drug that was extracted from the bark of a tree that grows in Perú. The tree is the cinchona an is in the center of Peruvian flag.
In the late 16th Century, a Jesuit Brother named Augustino Salumbrino living in Lima, Peru, noticed that the local Quecha Indians had been using the bark of a tree to treat shivering and fevers, and very effectively too. Like most indigenous people of the Americas the Quecha were generously willing to share their knowledge with Br Salumbrino, and he sent a small sample of the ground bark back to Rome to test as a treatment against Malaria. So effective was it that it quickly became known as Jesuit Powder. Soon Europeans were exporting the seeds and bark from the tree in such huge amounts that it became one of Peru’s most valuable natural exports (https://blog.fabulousfoodie.com/tonic-water-the-bark-that-cured-the-bite/).
I think that the painting was done over impressed lines in brown as can be clearly in the microscopy pictures. The inspiration is strange since this type of costumes (and the beard man of the medallion) do not correspond to Incas or Quechuas but to araucanos. See the Aquatint depicting an Araucani chief and his entourage. They were known as the toughest indigenous people of South America. The Araucans are Amerindian tribes habiting the Arauco area in the center of Chile which now-a-days make the most of the Indigenous population in Chile. From Giulio Ferrario's work Le Costume Ancien et Moderne ou Histoire du gouvernement, de la milice, de la religion, des arts, sciences et usages de tous les peuples anciens et modernes d'après les monuments de l'antiquité et accompagné de dessins analogues au sujet par le Docteur Jules Ferrario. ". Published in Milan by the author between 1816 and 1827. Source http://www.swaen.com/item.php?id=13157. Old araucanos used bear but not Inca or quechua.
Thanks for looking.
Isn't that where buffered analgesic aka aspirin came from?
i really like these apothecary jars too!
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/299105-more-covered-apothecary-jars
Beautiful porcelain apothecary jar, the painted image is lovely, and thank you for the fascinating story of discovering quinine
thanks for the comments, aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid is or was extracted from the bark and leaves of the willow and poplar trees @dav2np1
newfld and ho2cultcha thank so much for your kind commentaries
BHIFOS, vcal, fortapache and AythingObscure thanks for your loves
Wow!! This is wonderful. I love your writeup as well. Congrats on such an incredible find!!
thanks a lot jscotto363 for your kind comment
blunderbuss2 and Kevin vetraio50 thanks a lot for your loves
thanks a lot for looking and loving aura and jscott0363
thanks a lot for watching and loving Bruce99and Vynil33rpm
thanks so much ho2cultcha and SEAN68