Mastic of Chios
Antique pharmacy bottle - Wide-mouth apothecary jar.
19th-century mouth-blown glass
There is still some product left inside
A fascinating artifact from the history of pharmacology
Description
Mastic of Chios
Antique pharmacy bottle - Wide-mouth apothecary jar. 19th-century mouth-blown glass
It comes from the old cellar-laboratory of a Parisian pharmacy. The bottles had not been moved from the shelves since the late 1950s!
There is still some product left inside
This large-capacity jar was a storage jar intended for stockpiling.
Chios mastic was an indispensable product in a chemist’s shop in the late 19th or early 20th century for two main reasons:
‘Mastic Varnish’: The chemist would dissolve these mastic tears in alcohol or ether to create an adhesive varnish. It was used to secure dressings or protect wounds (the precursor to spray-on dressings).
Dentistry: It was used to make temporary dental cements or to relieve pain by chewing the grains (hence the name ‘mastic’).
Mastic was and remains one of the most expensive resins in the world. Even today, its production is protected by a PDO on the island of Chios in Greece.
Handwritten in pen
Height: 20.5cm - Diameter: 9cm - Weight: 1.15Kg