RT Journal Article
T1 Giustiniani Medicine Chest
A1 Julie Ackroyd
YR 2019
VO 11
IS Spring 2019
K1 Science Museum
K1  Giustiniani
K1  Interpretation
K1  Provenance
K1  Medicine Chest
K1  Naval Medicine Chest
K1  Medicine
K1  Materia Medica
K1  Wellcome Collection
K1  Genoa
K1  Italian
K1  Turk
K1  Ottoman
K1  Suleiman the Magnificent 1494–1566
K1  John Burdett
K1  Chios
K1  podestà
K1  Venetian
K1  Furniture
AB In autumn 2019 the Science Museum will open its new Medicine Gallery, which is an opportunity to redisplay and reinterpret items from the collection. One object selected as a centrepiece for the new space is the Giustiniani Medicine Chest, which dates from the mid-sixteenth century. This object came into the Science Museum Collection in 1946 having originally been bought in Italy in 1924 by an agent of Sir Henry Wellcome for his medical collection. This article assesses its provenance and history.
NO The Financial Times, 1 March 1924, p 1, Column 1, gives an exchange rate of Italian Lire to English Pound of 25.22 ½. This makes 10,500 lira approximately £416. Using the ‘Historic inflation calculator’ on-line, the purchase price of the chest in the current market would be equivalent to £22,500.
NO Now known as Theodosia/Feodosia on the Crimea Peninsula, Ukraine.
NO The coat of arms is described as: ‘Di rosso, al castello d'argento sormonto da tre torri, quella di mezzo piu elevata, aperto e fenestro del campo; col capo d'oro, all' aquila nascente di nero, coronata del campo.’ Crollalanza, G.B. di, cited in Burnett, 1982, p 327. This translates as: ‘Gules, a castle of silver overlay by three towers, the middle one higher, open field and fenestro; the Golden head, at the nascent Black Eagle, crowned of the field.’
NO However, caution must be exercised when assessing the general condition of the chest. It entered the Wellcome Collection at a time when extensive restoration of items was not uncommon and no documentation exists to indicate if this particular object was restored and if so how much was undertaken.
PB The Science Museum Group
SN 2054-5770
LA eng
DO 10.15180/191108
UL http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-11/giustiniani-medicine-chest/
CR Burnett, J, 1982, The Giustiniani Medicine Chest, Medical History, Vol 26, pp 325–333 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Giustiniani-medicine-chest--Burnett/b8ca9154c1ccf01121403e76af6b535a08e943cf (accessed 3 March 2017)
CR Crollalanza, G B di, 1886-90, Dizionario storico-blasonico delle famiglie nobili e notabile italiane, Vol 1 (of 3), Presso la Direzione del Giornale, Araldico, Pisa
CR Financial Times, Saturday 1 March 1924, http://find.galegroup.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/ftha/browseEdition.do?prodId=FTHA&userGroupName=tou&tabID=T004&method=doBrowseEdition&mcode=3FDQ&dp=19240301&docPage=browseissue&fromPage=browseEdition (accessed 1 February 2017)
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CR Giustiniani, H and Argenti, P (ed), 1943, History of Chios (Cambridge University Press)
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CR Historic inflation calculator, This is Money.co.uk, 2017, http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html (accessed 1 February 2017)
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CR Rossi, Dr Carlo, 16 March 1924, Private correspondence, T/A641515, Science Museum
CR Rossi, Dr Carlo, 23 November 1924, Private correspondence, T/A641515, Science Museum
CR Science Museum, A641515, Brought to Life, Exploring the History of Medicine, on-line, http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display?id=5699 (accessed 3 March 2017)
CR Setton, K M, n.d., The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571, Vol 4 The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V (American Philosophical Society: Philadelphia), re-printed, 1984 as Volume 161 of Memoirs Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, https://ia902707.us.archive.org/27/items/bub_gb_DUwLAAAAIAAJ/bub_gb_DUwLAAAAIAAJ.pdf (accessed 3 March 2017)
CR Summerford, Thomasin, 3 May 2011, Meddling with Medicine: The Specialisation of Sea Surgeons’ Chests in the Early Modern Period, unpublished History of Design MA Dissertation, Royal College of Art and Victoria & Albert Museum, London
WT Science Museum Group Journal
OL 30