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A pharmacist's mortar and pestle carved on a monument.
Also known as: Apothecary's mortar, Chemist's mortar and pestle, Bowl and club on a grave
A bowl and grinding club. Unambiguously occupational — it marks an apothecary, chemist or druggist — and one of the few trade motifs still legible to a modern reader without explanation, because pharmacies still use it.
Effectively unambiguous as an occupational marker: unlike the anchor or the square, the mortar and pestle was not adopted as a general emblem by any fraternal order or as an allegory.
Remains in current use as the trade sign of pharmacy, which makes it one of the few occupational monument motifs a modern reader recognises without being told.
Contexts: Medicine
A deep bowl with a wide circular rim and a heavy foot, with a short club-shaped grinding tool resting in it or beside it.