A medicinal jar, drug jar, or apothecary jar is a jar used to contain medicines. Ceramic medicinal jars originated in the Islamic world and were brought to Europe where the production of jars flourished from the Middle Ages onward. Potteries were established throughout Europe and many were commissioned to produce jars for pharmacies and monasteries.[1] They are an important category of the Dutch and English porcelain known as Delftware.[2]
The jars were used by apothecaries in pharmacies and dispensaries in hospitals and monasteries.[3][4] Apothecaries needed containers to store herbs, roots, syrups, pills, ointments, spices and other ingredients used to make remedies as well as the medicines themselves.[1]