overall: 7.4 cm x 22 cm x 17.9 cm; 2 15/16 in x 8 11/16 in x 7 1/16 in
Object Name:
mortar
Other Terms:
mortar; MANUFACTURING & DISPENSING EQUIP.
Place made:
France
Unspecified:
Germany
Date made:
1474
Description:
A cast mortar with two applied square handles. The mouth of the vessel is flared and has a decorated band of alternating fleur-de-leis, gothic letters and leaves. Three raised rings are at the center of the body. The base of the mortar is formed by three graduated disks. A small circular copper disk has been placed in the bottom of the mortar to cover a hole. Marked "anno domini M CCCC L." Testing the metal content with an X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer concluded that the predominate material to be copper. The turned pestle has rounded ends.
Urdang and Nitardy catalogued this mortar as French. However, in a letter dated 13 April 1954 to George Urdang at the American Institute for the History of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin, George Griffenhagen Associate Curator in the Division of Medicine writes that the Spanish historian of pharmacy G. Folch Jou believes this mortar to be of Dutch origin.
