Jesuit community pouring pitcher or apothecary chevrette – Majolica with IHS decoration – Italy or Languedoc – 17th-18th century
Rare pouring pitcher or pharmacy container in stanniferous earthenware, decorated in blue monochrome on a white background. The piece has an ovoid body mounted on a pedestal, a side handle, a tubular pouring spout.
The main face bears the pharmaceutical inscription:
“S. CAPILL. V.”
This abbreviated Latin formula can be developed into “Syrupus Capillorum Veneris”, i.e. Venus hair syrup. This medicinal preparation, made from the Adiantum capillus-veneris fern, was used in ancient pharmacopoeias as a softening and pectoral remedy, particularly for throat and respiratory tract conditions.
Above the inscription, a child modeled in relief presents a shield bearing the IHS monogram, accompanied by a cross and three nails. This Christ emblem, closely associated with the Society of Jesus, makes it possible to envisage an order intended for a Jesuit community, a religious college pharmacy or an important convent apothecary.
The decoration, particularly developed, combines female figures or winged genies, foliage scrolls, masks, grotesques and motifs inspired by the Mannerist repertoire. Two reclining figures frame the central cartouche. A bearded mask appears below the inscription, complemented on the sides by fantastic faces integrated into the ornaments.
The joint presence of a precise pharmaceutical inscription, a religious emblem, a figure modeled in the round and such abundant figured decoration distinguishes this piece from common apothecary containers with simple floral decoration.
Two original hypotheses can be retained.
The first leads to an Italian production made for a Jesuit community. The great houses of the Society of Jesus had their own “spezierie”, particularly in the colleges and novitiates. The Jesuit pharmacy of Novellara, in Emilia-Romagna, as well as that of the Collegio Romano in Rome, kept important series of majolica vases intended for the preparation and conservation of remedies. The vocabulary of grotesques, the reclining figures, the blue monochrome and the IHS monogram are compatible with an Italian order of an institutional nature.
The second hypothesis leads to an apothecary in Languedoc, in the area of Montpellier, Toulouse or Nîmes. The southern workshops produced, at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, pharmaceutical jars and pitchers strongly marked by the influence of Italian majolica. Montpellier was then a major medical and pharmaceutical center, surrounded by religious communities, hospitals and important apothecaries.
Period: late 17th or early 18th century.
Dimensions: height 27.5 cm; width 20 cm; depth 15 cm.
Conditions: the foot was broken into several fragments then previously glued back together. Presence of losses around the edge of the pedestal, cracks starting from the foot and going up towards the body, as well as chips, chips and wear of enamel. Accidents visible on certain protruding parts and on the edges. The whole remains legible and retains its main decoration, its pharmaceutical inscription, its pouring spout, its handle and its figure with the IHS monogram. The photographs are an integral part of the description of the condition.
This piece constitutes a document on the material organization of old religious pharmacies. Containers still bearing the Latin name of their preparation are sought after for their historical interest; examples enriched with a Jesuit emblem, a figured decoration and a sculpted crowning are rare.
Beyond its utilitarian function, this object had to participate in the solemn presentation of an institutional pharmacy. Its decor and its dimensions give it an architectural presence, designed to take place on the shelves of an important “spezieria”, among the pots, albarelli, chevrettes and bottles containing the different medicinal preparations.
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