English and European Ceramics and Glass - 18 Oct 2017
A Continental faïence drug jar early 18th century
A Continental faïence drug jar early 18th century, Belgium or Northern France, painted in blue with a shaped cartouche inscribed 'MITHRIDAT.DAM', each side with a large stylized carnation beside a bird with outstretched wings, broken and well restored, 19.3cm.
This preparation was used as an antidote to poisons and was named after the man who devised it, Mithridates, King of Pontus (131-64 BC).