Antidote Jars At The Getty Center Los Angeles

Share this post Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Posted September 29, 2011 in annibale fontana, antidote, center, cure, drugs, getty, gilt, glazed, jars, los angeles, medicine, mithridatum, pharmacy, plague, poison, renaissance, sculptor, theriac

  

 

Attributed to Annibale Fontana
Italian, about 1580
Painted and gilt terracotta

This "antidote" jar is one of two currently on display at The Getty Center, Los Angeles. The Getty attributes the work to one of the most important sculptors of the period, Annibale Fontana. 

Why such an elaborate design for a storage container? These jars held the most prized drugs in the Renaissance pharmacy: mithridatum and theriac. Mithridatum and theriac were used as antidotes for the Plague.


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