The Giustiniani Medicine Chest

This impressive 16^th century medicine chest can be seen in a showcase of The Science and Art of Medicine gallery – a part of The Science Museum in London (Exhibition Road). It was made for Vincenzo Giustiniani (d.1570), the last Genoese governor of the island of Chios in the eastern Aegean Sea. The chest still holds 126 bottles and pots for drugs, some of which appear to have 16^th century contents. The chest was owned by the Giustiniani family until bought by Henry Wellcome in 1924.¹.

• Photos by Luca Borghi @ (August 2011), courtesy of the Science Museum.

• Locate the item on this Google Map

Bibliography

– John Burnett, The Gustiniani Medicine Chest, Medical History, 1982, 26: 325-333.