Tag: Christopher Duffin
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A magnificent late seventeenth-century German pharmacy cabinet
Christopher DuffinLondon, England Small, portable apothecary cabinets were once popular for household, travel, and campaign purposes, but few have survived from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Several are exhibited in German museums,1 including one spectacular example in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Münich. The cabinet represents a fusion of artistic media. The goldsmith was Joseph Herterich…
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The healing oil of Saint Walburga
Christopher DuffinLondon, England Born in what is now Devon around 710, Walburga (also spelled Walpurga) was educated at Wimborne Abbey in Dorset, eventually becoming a nun there. In the 740s she joined her brothers, Willibald and Wunibald, who responded to a call from their uncle, St. Boniface (680–755), to become part of the Anglo-Saxon evangelical…
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The last days of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (1594–1612)
Christopher DuffinLondon, England As the eldest son of King James I (1566–1625) and Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), Henry Frederick (Fig. 1) was heir apparent to the English throne. His premature death from typhoid fever in 1612 meant that he was succeeded by his younger brother, Charles I (1600–1649). An erudite scholar, enthusiastic sportsman, and highly…
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Johannes Mesuë’s electuary of gems
Christopher DuffinLondon, England Gemstones such as sapphire, ruby, emerald, and topaz are complex silicate minerals. Their distinctive and intense colors, hardness, durability, and rarity suggested medicinal value to medieval scholars, famously summarized in medieval lapidary texts, or books about such stones. In the early 15th century, Monsieur Chiquart, Master Chef to the Duke of Savoy,…
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Deutsches Apotheken-Museum, Heidelberg
Christopher DuffinLondon, England If you find yourself in Heidelberg, you would be well advised to tackle the invigorating walk up to the sixteenth-century castle on the eastern margins of the old city, with its commanding views over the Neckar Basin, or to take the more sedate option of the cable car. The nine-euro entry fee…
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Bells, whistles and rattles: Something to get your teeth into
Christopher DuffinLondon, United Kingdom In the past, teething was seen as a dangerous period in the life of a young child. Nicholas Culpeper (1616–1654), an English herbalist and apothecary, believed that this time of childhood development was a “necessary evil” and that children were in considerable danger of dying from fevers and convulsions that came…