Description:
English delft, bowl-shaped ointment pot or dispensing pot inscribed in blue "Restorative Electuary prepared by / T. Townshend Chymist to His Majesty / Hay Market" and decorated with a portrait of a man's head wearing a wig. Thomas Townshend described himself in his trade card as "Chymist in Ordinary to his MAJESTY" (George II who reigned 1727-1760) and his business "at the King's Arms and Golden Head, near Panton Street in the Hay-Market. Makes & Sells all manner of Chymical and Galenical MEDICINES, with all sorts of DRUGGS. Wholesale or Retail at very Reasonable Rates. N.B. The Elixir for ye Asthma as also for the Gout and Rheumatism are Sold no where else." To further impress his clients, his trade card included the Royal Arms set among the paraphernalia of alchemy. This pot probably contained scented bear's grease or fat, valued for its ability to promote hair growth. Although recommended as a remedy for baldness as early as 1690, pomades containing bear's grease achieved considerable popularity in the mid to late eighteenth century when the fashion for wigs went out of style. "A Treatise on Bear's Grease with Observations" (London, 1795) relates Townshend's role in the promotion of this cure for baldness: "It was a Mr. Townsend [sic] an Apothecary, who resided near a century since in the Haymarket. This gentleman rendered himself popular by directing his researches towards such objects as would from their immediate importance be of the greatest service to the Public... none have succeeded in so abundant a degree as his importation of Bears from those countries most famous for breeding them in the greatest perfection, which he fattened and rendered the Grease down in pots for the Public use. During his life the Nobility and Gentry of the day always honoured him with a preference for that Substance..." Houghton and Priestley in their "Historical Guide to Delftware and Victorian Ointment Pots" note that Thomas Townshend was based in Panton Street and illustrate a Townshend ointment pot in the Fitzwilliam Museum collection (Cambridge, England) inscribed, "Prepar'd by T:Townshend & Sold only By C: King Chymist Hay Market" and has a figure of a bear. C. King is recorded in the "New Complete Guide to London" directory for both 1770 and 1772 as "King Christ. chym. & drug. Haym." A complete range of directories was not available to the researchers, but the business is not listed in 1760, and 1763, or later in 1777 and 1780. Ointment pots, which varied in size and shape, dispensed sticky or semi-liquid preparations sold by apothecaries, grocers, perfumers, etc., who often had their names and sometimes addresses inscribed on them when they ordered them in quantity from delftware factories. These pots are normally bowl-shaped with an everted rim, which could be covered with parchment secured with a string tied around the indentation below the rim. Around 1800, these delft pots were replaced with glass containers, cardboard-lined boxes, and chip boxes made of handcut wood shavings.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.183 |
