Description
each with a narrow sloping shoulder and slightly tapering body with a recessed curved short foot, painted in blue, yellow, strong orange and pale green, with portraits against half lit skies and landscapes, within semicircular cartouches; the centre of one jar with a caricature portrait profile of an old man, on the reverse wall a male head three quarters turned in a sketchy style on the white ground, flanked by two bands of arrows and scrolling leaves in blue, below a label inscribed 'O. DE. OSSA' (oleum osso - bone oil); the centre of the other albarello with a female caricature portrait three quarter turned, above a label inscribed 'ELLO. ELESCOF' (bishop's electuary), on the reverse walls sketchy scrolls in blue; on both albarelli the panels surrounding the portrait heads are infilled with scrolling foliage, wreaths etc., on a dark blue or ochre ground; the base of the jar with the female portrait with an incised mark 'HD3' (2)
Dimensions
Female portrait jar 13cm diameter, 24.6cm high, Male portrait jar 14cm diameter, 24.4cm high
Footnote
Note:
According to Rudolf Drey, Apothecary Jars, London, 1978, p.200, "Bishop's electuary was a purgative electuary, made from scammony, turpeth root, polypody rhizome and other ingredients."