The medical environment at the end of the sixteenth century was generally Galenic in attitude. This means that medical importance was placed on the idea of the four humours (see Chapter 9). They were thought to constitute a balance in the body and were differentiated according to their qualities: hot, dry, wet, and cold. An imbalance meant that the body was unhealthy, and in order to restore that equilibrium it was imperative to be aware of one’s individual humoral constitution. Much like the human body, herbs and spices were thought to have individual constitutions; balance was thought to be reinstated by applying a hot and dry substance to a body that was excessively cold and moist. Since an imbalance could occur anywhere and anytime – by influence of the air or food for example – a material culture that would aid in the fight to stay healthy developed. Pertaining to this is the Balsambüchse (ointment box) (Coscarelli 2014).
This seventeenth-century Balsambüchse is a spherical object made from precious metals – silver that is gilt on the inside. It has a substantial foot with protruding elongated spheres and engraved triangular decoration. Spheres are engraved on its main body and once held human figures, birds, or foliage, as can be deduced from comparing the object with other examples. A loop is connected to its top, suggesting that it was worn on a chain and carried around or possibly suspended in the home. This particular piece has eight compartments, each of which is hinged to the middle console and unfolds upon unscrewing the object from the top. Engraved names can be found on the lids of the eight compartments – they show that this piece held ointments of Canel (cinnamon), Moscat (nutmeg), Rosmarin (rosemary), Ruten (rue), and Rosen (roses). These, together with cloves, schlag (an ointment used to cure strokes), and lemon, are the ingredients most often found engraved on the inside of these objects, thus revealing a common set of substances. The ointments were applied to the place of ailment on the body and would help to relieve pain and discomfort by way of the specific medical and temperate properties ascribed to them. This included spreading ointment under one’s nose in order to prevent bad smells from entering the body.
A detail that is present in most Balsambüchsen is the addition of numbers next to the names of ingredients. The numbers are not only included next to the engraved names but also on the outside of compartments and the middle console. Primary evidence has shown that noblewomen could send their Balsambüchsen to the apothecary to get them refilled. In order to do so the apothecary would have needed to remove the lid, which would have told him the substance that was to go in each specific compartment. In the process of refilling, lids might have been exchanged, or the apothecary might have lost track of which substances were filled into which compartment, and what they were. In this case, the numberings on the lid and the compartment would have eliminated any confusion.
Although there is little written primary evidence that can help in understanding how these objects were used, by taking the Balsambüchse itself as primary evidence it becomes clear that they provided their owner with a relatively broad range of materia medica that could help to relieve pain, illness, and the danger of infection (see also Chapter 21 for discussion of such objects in the ‘scentscapes’ of Renaissance cities).
Coscarelli, L. (2014), ‘Pomander and Balsambüchse – Agents in the Material Culture of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century German Medicine in the European Context’, unpublished MA dissertation, Royal College of Art/Victoria and Albert Museum.