Object Details
- Description
- This urn-shaped blown-glass jar has rounded shoulders and a flared neck with a round glass stopper in its mouth. The opaqueness of the glass comes from the addition of tin oxide in an attempt to mimic porcelain. The jar has a gold shield decorated with red and blue flowers, with a label inside the shield that reads ALUM UST in black. This jar would have contained Alumen ustum, or heated alumen. Alumen ustum was chiefly used as a caustic for irritating the skin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- date made
- 18th century
- Credit Line
- Gift of American Pharmaceutical Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- Physical Description
- glass (overall material)
- paint (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 11.5 cm x 5.5 cm; 4 1/2 in x 2 3/16 in
- Object Name
- bottle
