19TH CENTURY

Details

Three small glass pharmacy jars, one containing a Bezoar stone
19TH CENTURY
One cylindrical containing a Bezoar stone, inscribed Lap. de Goa, Bezoar, Orient et Ambra Grisca, 8.7 cm. high, one with gilt and black painted content label inscribed L: JUDAIC., losses to painting, one with paper label printed with a cherub holding a banderole inscribed Besoar miner-(?) Orientalis (3)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

A Bezoar stone, which is a calcified concretion found in the stomachs of some animals, was prized for it's supposed medicinal properties as well as being believed to act as an antidote to poison. The scarcity of bezoar stones by the 17th century led a group of Portuguese Jesuits working in Goa to come up with a man made version. These so called 'Goa Stones' were a mixture of bezoar as well as other precious objects believed to have curative powers.

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