Laudanum Bottle

Artisan: Feast of Fools (Heather Randall)
Date: 2021
Dimensions: 26 x 10 mm. / 1 x ⅜ inches (height x diameter)
Inventory number: 2021.062
Intended Room: Master Bedroom
Category: Accessories

Doctors frequently prescribed laudanum as a painkiller in Victorian England, regardless of the fact that it quickly became addictive. As soon as I saw this little bottle, made by Heather Randall at Feast of Fools – on whom you can always rely to come up with something different – I knew it had to be tucked away somewhere in the Master Bedroom. But whose is the dirty little secret? I haven’t yet decided whether Charles or Elizabeth has fallen prey to their doctor’s well-meaning prescription.

It was hard to know how to categorise this, but Accessories seemed more appropriate than Food…