“… In Charity, for the Sake of Charity, and with Charity”

Abstract

This article is concerned with the construction of professional identity by apothecaries in Europe in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (1450–1550) and with the use of visual symbols in promoting the virtues of the profession. The study focuses on the albarello, a tall, cylindrical ceramic pot that was introduced to Europe from the Islamic East. The distinctively shaped vessel became a regular ornament in European apothecary shops and was considered one of the symbols of the apothecary. I explore the symbolic dimension of the albarello and illustrate that the vessel’s appeal to Christian audiences stemmed in large part from its identification as an “ointment jar” and the latter’s strong cultural associations with healing and caritas. The ideas of caritas/charity and misericordia/mercy were central to the ethical discourse of the day and to the expectations that society had of its members, especially those whose task was to care for the poor and the sick. At a time when apothecaries’ concerns were focused on professionalization and a stronger medical orientation of the practice, a well-thought-out interior of the shop could play an important role in promoting the image of a beneficent and caring profession.