Object Details
- Description
- This urn–shaped drug jar has a grayish–white glaze, a straight neck and a round domed foot. A rectangular label is formed at the center of the jar by thin brown and yellow stripes topped by four C–scrolls to form a blue cartouche with a yellow center. The label creates a frame for the jar’s inscription. The outer frame is surrounded at the top and bottom with blue and green vines and yellow swags of beads.
- The jar is marked R. Nardi Yndicae.” Correspondence in 1954 between Division of Medicine Associate Curator George Griffenhagen and George Urdang notes that the jars appear to be of Catalonian–Aragonese origin. The jar would have contained Radice Nardus Indica. Nardi (Nard or Nardus) Indica comes from the root of Indian nard or spikenard. Nard comes from the Valerian family of plants and was used as incense in the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Nard was also used to induce menstruation and reduce gas in the stomach. It also served as a sedative, a perfume, and a cure for insomnia.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- 18th century
- ID Number
- 1991.0664.0567
- catalog number
- M-05779
- accession number
- 1991.0664
- collector/donor number
- SAP 491
- catalog number
- 1991.0664.0567
- Object Name
- jar
- Physical Description
- ceramic (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 25.3 cm x 13.2 cm; 9 31/32 in x 5 3/16 in
- Related Publication
- Urdang, George and Ferdinand William Nitardy. The Squibb Ancient Pharmacy: A Catalogue of the Collection
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Medicine
- Health & Medicine
- European Apothecary
- Art
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Pharmacy
- Record ID
- nmah_994543
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a8-d88e-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
