Rochard Mortar and Pestle Pharmacy Limoges Box

The mortar and pestle, the age-old symbol of the apothecary, honors the work of pharmacists and healers. Rochard produced this porcelain Limoges box in Limoges, France, with each detail added by hand.

From Apothecary to Pharmacy

For centuries, healers ground herbs and compounds by hand in a mortar before medicines came in neat bottles. The tool became the emblem of pharmacy, and it still hangs on signs above drugstores around the world.

Compounded With Care

• A Rochard professions design, hand-painted in Limoges
• Joins doctor book, nurse and caduceus themed boxes
• Fits a pharmacy, medicine or career milestone collection

Prescriptions for Celebration

Present it to a new pharmacist on passing the boards, a pharmacy school graduate, a compounding specialist, or a longtime druggist at retirement. Doctors, herbalists and pharmacy technicians appreciate the nod to their history as well.

It sits well on a pharmacy counter, a home study bookshelf beside medical texts, or a clinic office desk. Small porcelain boxes once held pills in eighteenth-century France, which gives this subject a fitting link to the history of Limoges boxes themselves.