Ref: U793
Archive item - not for sale
Montelupo two-handled vase, late 17th century, decorated with a scroll shaped cartouche containing the Latin inscription ‘Nolo Sine’ amidst scrolling stylised flowerheads; height: 7 in. (17.5cm.). Nolo sine meaning ‘I would not without’ probably refers to a shortened version of the phrase ‘pilulae sine quibus esse nolo’, translated as ‘the pills I would not wish to be without’, and was a popular purgative mixture made from Socotra aloes, scammony, larch agaric, senna leaves , colocynth and other ingredients, purported to give relief ‘ to a burdened brain by purging phlegm’ and is referred to by Culpeper; see Copeman, W.S.C, ‘A Short History of the Gout and the Rheumatic Diseases’, p. 15 for further details; see also Drey, Rudolf E. A, ‘Apothecary Jars’, p. 231. SOLD
