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Unguentum Dialtea
From the collection of National Museum of American History. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This blue monochrome albarello-shaped drug jar has a stylized cobalt-blue floral motif with a cross-hatch band just above the shoulder and foot. An escroll in the center of the container is inscribed in gothic script, <i>u dialtea.</i> This jar would have contained Unguentum Dialthaea, an ointment made from the gummy extract of the roots of the <i>Althaea officinalis</i>, also known as the Marshmallow. The ointment was used to soothe irritated throats and to relieve coughs.
National Museum of American History’s own descriptionCredit lineUnguentum Dialtea. ca 1500. National Museum of American History, Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. CC0.
