Item LL 67262 Ointment Jar - Earthenware, Black, Transfer-printed, London (Fragment)

Summary

This Holloway's Ointment pot was excavated at the Commonwealth Block site between 1988 and 2003. Holloway's Ointment contained opium.

Health and hygiene.
'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'. This is a difficult maxim to follow when 'there is not one bath in sixty', when sewerage gathers in cesspits and open drainage channels line the streets.But the residents of Little Lon did practice personal hygiene. Archaeologists have uncovered toothbrushes and toothpaste pots, scent bottles, soap dishes, combs and hairbrushes.
Clean teeth and neat hair did not guarantee good health however. Doctors were expensive, so ordinary people had to rely on medicines like Holloway's Ointment and Hall's Vegetable Pain Conqueror as well as Chinese herbal remedies. Children were dosed weekly with the laxative castor oil, to keep their bowels regular.

Physical Description

This is a small pot with straight walls which flare out to a curved rim. The glaze is neutral and the printing is a black under glaze transfer. The rim has a chip.

Physical Description

Small pot, straight walls flare out to curved rim. Transfer print-black product label lettering Height 41mm, base (dia) 41mm. Ointment jar.