Drug jar (albarello)
ca. 1550-1600
In the 10th and 11th centuries, Indonesia enjoyed a sophisticated horticulture and understanding of the use of medicinal drugs. By the 14th century, when Islam conquered Indonesia, the knowledge moved west with the Islamic armies and enhanced medical practices in Europe. This jar takes its shape from a column of bamboo, the traditional Indonesian containers for medicaments. This jar contained rose syrup, a purgative for "yellow fever," or jaundice.
Avicenna (Ibn Sina in Arabic) was a Persian physician and influential philosopher scientist of the Islamic world. Born 980, his two most influential works are Kitab al-shifa (book of the Cure), a philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia and Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (The Canon of Medicine), which is among the most famous books in the history of medicine. During his lifetime he wrote around 240 pieces of work, and was readily incorporated into medieval European scholastic thought.
Maiolica
9 5/8 x 15 1/2 x 4 in. (24.45 x 39.4 x 10.2cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
51.28
Provenance: [David Benzaria, New York, by 1951]; purchased by Seattle Art Museum
