UNG. EGYPTIAC

This albarello–shaped drug jar has an off–white underglaze with a muted blue, yellow, and green palette. A yellow–haired putti with blue and yellow wings is sitting on a tuft of green grass. Thin bands of blue encircle the jar just above the upper shoulder and below the bottom shoulder. Text in between the lower bands reads VNG EGYPTIAC.

Based on its muted palette, pharmacy historian George Urdang believed this piece to be of 18th-century origin from the Castelli region. The bottom of the jar is marked in glaze with the initials, G.B.C. He believed the artist to be Rocco di Castelli. The jar would have contained Unguentum Egyptiacum, Latin for Egyptian ointment. Egyptian ointment was a combination of copper acetate and honey that was used as an escharotic, a caustic agent.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Released by the Smithsonian Institution under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.