Antique treen Apothecary Jars- a rare find

Antique treen apothecary jars or drug jars are hard to find. Mainly they were made in pottery or glass. Usually a label is stuck on to the jar to identify its contents. Obviously over the years these may have been lost or altered if the contents were changed. Sometimes the name of the contents was directly painted on. They are mainly continental, German or Spanish.

What a fabulous site the treen jars would have made lined up on shelves.

Image 1 shows two different sizes of the antique treen apothecary jars. Note the two labels, the larger one coccionellae its contents were derived from beetles, still used today as a food colouring!

The smaller treen jar from its label contained citris aurantium, orange used as a flavouring agent and also as an antispasm tonic. The Pv on the label indicated it was pulverised.

On the second image we are lucky to have on the inside of the lid an old label with the name and place of the apothecay store- always nice to have its provenance.

I have also included a picture of the base of this antique treen apothecary jar to show the concentric circles where this jar has been turned.

Happy hunting for these special pieces.