Statue showing a doctor treating a poor person, Europe, 1850-1900
‘The Charity Patient’ plaster statue shows a doctor or a pharmacist attending to a mother, dressed in rags, with a small baby. The doctor examines the baby while grinding up a treatment in a pestle and mortar. Medical treatment was not free, so the poor had to rely on charitable provision or workhouse infirmaries.
Object number:
A631054
Related Themes and Topics
Glossary:
Glossary: statue
A sculpture in the round representing human or animal figures or small figure groups; a statuette is a smaller sculpture.
Glossary: mortar
Cup-shaped vessel in which drugs or herbal mixtures are pounded with a pestle.
Glossary: pestle
An elongated piece of hard material usually made of stone. A pestle is used for grinding pigments, herbs, spices or other materials in a mortar.
Glossary: charity
The noble act of voluntarily giving goods, money or time to those in need.