Seventeenth-century alchemical workshop
Place where the object is located
Villa of the Marquis of Palombara, gardens of Piazza Vittorio in Rome.
Story of the object
It was reconstructed down to the smallest detail with material from the period. In the centre of the ceiling a stuffed crocodile dominates the room. It was used in ancient therapies for its medical virtues. In the fireplace on the left is an athanor, a typical alchemist's oven, accompanied by a still and a cucurbit, a kind of distiller. Three methods were used for distillation: per ascenso, per inclinazione, per descenso. In the first case, herbs, aromas, seeds, honey and sugar were distilled; in the second case, wood, fat, horns, bones, resins, salts and metals were used; the third method involved the use of wood.
The alchemist used a rich set of instruments to practice his art: funnels, bowls, capitals, flasks, bells. The flasks were used to collect liquids or to heat them. They had a globular body with a flat bottom, a long neck, different capacities and an airtight stopper. Bowls are the oldest object in use in apothecaries' shops. To prevent them from falling, they had a convex bottom, were covered with straw and were called flasks. They were used to collect the results of a distillation or were placed in a bain-marie or on a cooker for mixing substances. Other interesting instruments are the 'retorts', recognisable by their curved necks, and the capitals which have a tube attached to the spherical body with a large mouth. The latter were used to cool the liquid by means of a condenser tube. The bells were used to cover the preparations or to collect gas and create an environment out of contact with air. Many glass instruments were displayed on a table: among them is a very rare container with the typical curved spout called 'la fiorentina' which was used to separate unmixable liquids such as oil and water. In one corner of the workshop there is a large stone mortar from the 17th century with a lid and a bolt, which was used to season triaca, a medicinal composition made up of numerous ingredients and used for centuries to cure many ailments.
Triaca was the prince of electuaries (remedies consisting of a thick mixture of active ingredients, powders, parts and plant extracts, mixed with sweeteners or syrups). The story goes that the first electuary of this kind was invented by Mithridates, king of Pontus, one of the most famous apothecaries of antiquity. Andromachus, Nero's old physician, added viper meat to the fifty-ingredient anti-venom 'mithridate'. And so Andromachus' triac was born, and its use survived for twenty centuries. The triaca represented a national glory as its ingredients varied from region to region according to territorial customs. The preparation took place in public in the presence of the authorities and the Council of Physicians and Apothecaries. On the wall of the alchemical laboratory is a plaster cast of the ancient 'hermetic door', the last surviving remains of the villa of the Marquis of Palombara, now visible in the gardens of Piazza Vittorio in Rome, whose arcane and cabalistic signs are engraved to represent the formula for the philosopher's stone.
The alchemist used a rich set of instruments to practice his art: funnels, bowls, capitals, flasks, bells. The flasks were used to collect liquids or to heat them. They had a globular body with a flat bottom, a long neck, different capacities and an airtight stopper. Bowls are the oldest object in use in apothecaries' shops. To prevent them from falling, they had a convex bottom, were covered with straw and were called flasks. They were used to collect the results of a distillation or were placed in a bain-marie or on a cooker for mixing substances. Other interesting instruments are the 'retorts', recognisable by their curved necks, and the capitals which have a tube attached to the spherical body with a large mouth. The latter were used to cool the liquid by means of a condenser tube. The bells were used to cover the preparations or to collect gas and create an environment out of contact with air. Many glass instruments were displayed on a table: among them is a very rare container with the typical curved spout called 'la fiorentina' which was used to separate unmixable liquids such as oil and water. In one corner of the workshop there is a large stone mortar from the 17th century with a lid and a bolt, which was used to season triaca, a medicinal composition made up of numerous ingredients and used for centuries to cure many ailments.
Triaca was the prince of electuaries (remedies consisting of a thick mixture of active ingredients, powders, parts and plant extracts, mixed with sweeteners or syrups). The story goes that the first electuary of this kind was invented by Mithridates, king of Pontus, one of the most famous apothecaries of antiquity. Andromachus, Nero's old physician, added viper meat to the fifty-ingredient anti-venom 'mithridate'. And so Andromachus' triac was born, and its use survived for twenty centuries. The triaca represented a national glory as its ingredients varied from region to region according to territorial customs. The preparation took place in public in the presence of the authorities and the Council of Physicians and Apothecaries. On the wall of the alchemical laboratory is a plaster cast of the ancient 'hermetic door', the last surviving remains of the villa of the Marquis of Palombara, now visible in the gardens of Piazza Vittorio in Rome, whose arcane and cabalistic signs are engraved to represent the formula for the philosopher's stone.
Unit of the Educational Material connected (4 - 2)
Label
Seventeenth-century
