Albarello

Tin-glazed earthenware drug jar decorated with horizontal lines and dashes in purple (manganese) and an oval chain pattern around the waist in blue (cobalt). Drug jars contained medicines, ointments and cosmetic preparations and would have been bought at an apothecary's shop. You could either keep the pot after the contents were finished and use it as a container, or you could return it to the shop in exchange for a small sum. As this pot is quite large, it was probably for ointments or cosmetics rather than a prescription of medicine. It would have been sealed with a parchment lid, tied on with string just under the rim.