Rienzi Gallery Talk | Bookmark This May 28, 2021


Among the beautiful works of porcelain and silver in the exhibition Perpetual Bloom: Botanicals in the 18th-Century Interior at Rienzi, you’ll also find an intriguingly titled publication.

A Compleat History of Druggs was written by Pierre Pomet, pharmacist to King Louis XIV of France, during the Enlightenment period. What sets this book apart from other medical texts? Not only was it a useful reference guide, it also became a popular book widely read for pleasure, with sections featuring travel, mummies—and unicorns!

Find out more in this Gallery Talk presented by Rebekah Scoggins, public service and instruction librarian at the MFAH Hirsch Library.

 • See Perpetual Bloom: Botanicals in the 18th-Century Interior at Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts.


Education programs at Rienzi receive generous funding from the Sterling-Turner Foundation; Alkek and Williams Foundation; Carroll Sterling and Harris Masterson III Endowment; and the Caroline Wiess Law Endowment for Rienzi.