RT Journal Article T1 The provenance and context of the Giustiniani Medicine Chest A1 Julie Ackroyd YR 2019 VO IS Spring 2019 K1 Chios K1 Furniture K1 Genoa K1 Giustiniani K1 Interpretation K1 Italian K1 John Burdett K1 Materia Medica K1 medicine K1 Medicine Chest K1 Naval Medicine Chest K1 Ottoman K1 podestà K1 Provenance K1 Science Museum K1 Suleiman the Magnificent 1494-1566 K1 Turk K1 Venetian K1 Wellcome Collection 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 https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/giustiniani-medicine-chest/ WT Science Museum Group Journal OL 30