Rad. Ratan.

18th century

This urn–shaped drug jar has a domed lid and rounded finial. The jar has a whitish glaze with a yellow and orange rectangular medallion marked <i>Rad. Ratan.</i> According to Pharmaceutical historian scholar George Urdang, this piece was made in an Italian factory in Urbino established by a Frenchman named Rolet in 1770. In a 1954 letter from Associate Curator of Medicine George Griffenhagen to Urdang it is noted that G. Folch Jou, a renowned Spanish historian of medicine, claims that jars (Squibb Numbers) 483–491 (1997.0664.0559–1991.0664.0567) appear to be of Catalonian Aragonese origin.