Pharmacy Pestle and Mortar Print

A painting of a pestle and mortar which have been used for many centuries to grind or mix food and drugs by pharmacists….They probably started as a small hollow in a rock. The Papyrus Ebers (a famous Egyptian document listing remedies or “cures” for many diseases, infections, and accidents) mentions a mortar as early as 1552 B.C. By the 1600s they had become an essential household item for grinding foods. Artisans also used them for grinding dyes, and chemists & druggists used them for preparing medicines. Mortars have been made from many different materials, including wood, brass, ivory, marble and stone. Bronze replaced stone for both culinary and medicinal mortars from the 1300s. Other materials including iron, wood, glass, agate and ivory were adopted for more specialist uses. However, when Josiah Wedgwood developed a new ‘biscuit ware’ porcelain in the late 1700s, it largely took over from bronze. Biscuit ware had the advantage above other materials that it would not contaminate the ingredients ground in the mortar.

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:10 W x 10 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:15.25 W x 15.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.