13 - NEVERS

NEVERS Large earthenware pharmacy vase ("pot à thériaque") decorated in blue, yellow and ochre ("a compendario") with amorous heads and foliage. Inscribed "TRIACA" in manganese on the body. The handles are formed by large loves with twisted arms and legs. 17th century. H. 36 x L. 44 cm. Neck diameter: 22 cm. (attached lid glued back on, cracked neck and small missing handle). Provenance Collection of Docteur O. Étude Daussy de Ricqles, sale June 15, 1990, with a second twin vase. The two pots have been separated. Among the remedies developed by the apothecary, theriac is certainly one of the best-known and most secret pharmaceutical preparations. Its name, from the Greek theriakos, "good against wild beasts", recalls its original vocation as an antidote to venom. Developed in Rome in the 1st century by Andromache the Elder, physician to Nero, and revived in the 2nd century by Galen, theriac found its consecration in the 17th century under the pen of Moïse Charas in his Pharmacopée royale. At the time, it was considered a panacea, i.e. a remedy capable of curing all illnesses. A blend of over fifty substances from the three kingdoms of nature, theriac, whose exact composition varied over the centuries, combined four main ingredients: viper's flesh, poppy, castoreum and honey. Administered as a paste for almost two millennia, until the early 20th century, it had to macerate for several years before being released. This constraint gave rise, in earthenware and pewter factories, to the creation of containers in which the concern for preservation was combined with genuine decorative ambition.