Italian, Perhaps Sicily or Southern Italy, 17 or 18th century

Alberto Filippo Rapisarda discusses a pair of albarelli identical in decoration to the present piece in the Museum of the Order of St. John in London. (op. cit., fig.8, p.270). There are six other albarelli from the series all with Maltese provenance in the same museum. This is the largest recorded example, another similar albarello is in the Fine Arts Museum, Valletta. The Maltese connection suggests that most of the pharmacy jars were made for the Knights of Malta, probably made in Sicily or Southern Italy. Rapisarda also points out that another piece of this set was recorded in the collection of M.J. De Vries, Voorburg, Holland. 

Two smaller albarelli of the same type were sold by Sotheby's London, 9 July 1997, lot 699. 

RELATED LITERATURE

A. F. Rapisarda, “Le ceramiche da farmacia dell’Ordine Ospedaliero di Malta, custodite presso il Museum of the Order of St. John di Londra,” in Atti del LIII Convegno Internazionale della Ceramica, Savona, 9-10 October 2020, fig.8, p.270.