The containers in the Pharma section

[-JKP-]

I have no idea what type of container that is in the middle of this miniature from a medical treatise, but it looks very similar to the simple ones in this section:


Cambridge University Library, MS Dd.10.68, f2r. Italy, 15thC. Link to the rest of the digitized manuscript You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

VViews, I haven't looked at the original to see if the text explains the picture (can't take the time right now), but it may possibly be a small stove (or combination stove/lantern). I don't think it's an incense burner, although that's a secondary possibility.

The reason I think it may be a small stove is because it resembles those I've seen in medieval books about warfare. Soldiers were always on the move, always on crusade or camping at the next siege site, so they needed small portable stoves for cooking food and heating knives and other implements of torture (pretty grisly stuff going on in those days).

Since the man is holding a beaker, it's possible they were heating it on a stove to create a chemical reaction. It may also represent distillation (distillation was used to create medicinal tinctures and required heat to evaporate the liquids). A traveling doctor would need a portable stove for creating medicines (or for warming poultices) if no apothecary was available to do it.