It is a pharmacist jar, with a wide and vertical cylindrical body on a narrower cylindrical base and featuring a short neck with rounded rim.

The jar is ornamented with floral and geometrical decorations, executed in blue and black colors on white under a green glaze. Many of these kinds of jars were made in Damascus and exported to the Italian republics during the Middle Ages, especially the 8th century.

They would have been filled with precious medical herbs and kept on special shelves in hospitals and drugstores. Read more about this object on the UNESCO Museums for Intercultural Dialogue website.

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Country profile

Capital: Damascus
Region: Arab States

Related Information

  • Route: Maritime