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Hutton Collection
Lot 100

A massive English delftware drug jar, circa 1720-40

19 November 2025, 10:30 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

£1,500 - £2,000

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A massive English delftware drug jar, circa 1720-40

Of generous ovoid form, painted in blue with an elaborate shell, cherub and angel cartouche inscribed 'U:SAETURNIUM', 30.5cm high

Footnotes

Provenance
Hutton Collection

Unguentum Saturnium was sugar of lead, used as an astringent. The 'virtues' of this are John Pechey's 'The London Dispensatory', published in 1694, where it is commonly used for 'tettars and inflamations, and dissolved in water is good for diseases of the skin'. A jar of similar form and size, painted with a similar cartouche, is illustrated by Margaret Legge, The Apothecary's Shelf (1986), no.78

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