# Drug Jar for Theriac [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FONTANA, Annibale]() - Date: 1551-1600 - Technique: Terracotta with white paint and gilt exterior and glazed interior, height 60 cm ## Commentary Drug Jar for Theriac c. 1580 Terracotta with white paint and gilt exterior and glazed interior, height 60 cm J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles This terracotta drug jar, one of a pair, was made to contain a specific preparation: theriaca Andromachi. The preparation was named for Andromachus, shown seated on the lid clasping a drug jar against his thigh, who was the court physician for the Roman Emperor Nero. Commanded by Nero to improve on an existing antidote for poison, Andromachus removed some ingredients and added others, the most important of which was vipers' flesh. The relief on the back of the jar shows Andromachus in the act of cutting up some vipers, while being observed by a group of doctors, all wearing tall hats. The relief on the front shows the doctor presenting his new drug to the Emperor. ## Related artworks - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Bust of Ottavio Farnese]() - [Bust of Ottavio Farnese]() - [Detail of the façade]() - [Drug Jar for Mithridate and Drug Jar for Theriac]() - [Francesco Ferdinando as Hercules Plucking the Apples of the Hesperides \(reverse\)]() - [Francesco Ferdinando d'Ávalos \(obverse\)]() - [Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo \(obverse\)]() - [Hercules and Achelous]() - [Hercules and Achelous]() - [Hercules and Nessus]() - [Hercules Attacking the Lernean Hydra]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()