Since the second half of the eighteenth century, the Ginori Manufactory of Doccia had produced pharmacy jars in maiolica to hold ointments, syrups, juices, balms, extracts, and oils. One of the types that gained wide popularity during the nineteenth century is the so-called “Etruscan” jar, shaped like a pyxis with more or less varied details.
Having abandoned maiolica for porcelain, in the second half of the nineteenth century the Ginori Manufactory began printing samples for this type of artifact, indicating models and decorations. Up to five different shapes for pharmacy containers with lids were codified, classified by letters of the alphabet from A to E. From the plate extracted from the Tariff of porcelain objects for use in chemical laboratories, pharmacies of 1907, types A, with a cylindrical body and flat lid, available in six different sizes, can be distinguished. Type B, almost an evolution of the previous form, is defined as cylindrical with a cushion-shaped, more rounded lid, produced in seven sizes. Type C, also cylindrical with a pointed lid, and finally type D, identifying a fluted Etruscan-shaped jar, both in five sizes. The last model, type E, with a cylindrical structure and flat lid, does not appear. The tariff was also completed by several plates showing the range of inscriptions and decorations that the factory could produce.
These jars enjoyed enormous popularity and are still visible today in some pharmacies, especially in the Florence area.
