The first pharmacy pottery appeared in Baghdad, where in the 8th and 9th centuries, clay vessels (often decorated) in various forms were used in local pharmacies (called sajdalani).

The Arabs, in turn, revealed the secret of producing apothecary vessels to the Spaniards (Málaga became the main center for the production of pottery with mixed Spanish and Moorish patterns from the beginning of the 12th century). Two centuries later, pharmacy ceramics from Spain began to be exported to Italy, where soon, in the 15th and 16th centuries, independent, original ceramics factories were established in Florence, Siena, Urbino, Caffagiolo, and, above all, in the town of Faenza - from which the word faience was coined. In the Baroque, in addition to Italy, wonderful pharmacy ceramics began to be produced by Dutch (Delft), French (e.g. Nevers, Marseille, Strasbourg) and German (e.g. Hanau, Nuremberg, Sankt-Georgon) centers. In Poland, the earliest major factories were established by the Radziwiłł family in Biała Podlaska, Świerzno and Żółkiew. In the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Polish pharmacy ceramics were produced in factories in Prószków Śląski, Warsaw (Karol Wolff's factory), Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Koło, Lubartów and Ćmielów.

Despite the growing fashion for pharmacy ceramics, for hundreds of years the storage system known in pharmacies since the early Middle Ages operated in pharmacies: ointments, balms and oils were stored in wooden cans, water, vinegar, wine and syrups in stone or clay jugs, and herbs and spices in wooden boxes. . The need to gradually change the forms and materials from which apothecary vessels were made was emphasized by Arab doctors and pharmacists. The 15th century physician Saladin de Ascolo, author of the textbook for pharmacists "Compendium aromatariorum", points out that beneficial raw materials and medicines should be kept "in glass, glazed, lead, porcelain, iron, silver, tin, gold-plated and horn vessels."

The variety of vessels and their functions are described in more detail by the 16th-century physician and ceramic artist Cipriano Piccolopasso in his work "Dell Arte dell Vasaio". He lists the following types of pharmacy ceramics:
- "albarello" - concave-cylindrical vessels, resembling a segment of bamboo, used for bringing and storing resins and aromatic raw materials
- "boccale" - jugs with and without spouts with twisted handles
- "vasi a torre ” – tall amphorae

In modern times, pharmacy vessels were still made of clay, faience and stoneware, until the invention of Meissen porcelain in 1709 by Frederick Boettger, pharmacist and alchemist of King Augustus II the Strong, made a revolution, causing porcelain to quickly be used in pharmacies.

Pharmacy vessels were not only used to store plant raw materials and medicines, they also had a number of other informative and aesthetic functions. They were decorated with painted representations of plants, pharmaceutical emblems, images of saints, and emblems of powerful families, which served as advertising for a given pharmacy and added splendor to the place used by such distinguished customers.

Inscriptions placed on ceramics and other pharmacy utensils also played an important role. Late medieval and Renaissance pharmacy utensils were often decorated with short religious maxims (e.g. "God is my hope", "If God is for us, who can be against us", "Saint Catherine, pray for us", "God created medicines". ", "Jesus of Nazareth, have mercy on me") or longer quotes inspired by the Bible ("God is Love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (Jn 4:16), "In you, Lord, I have trusted, I will be disappointed forever” Psalm 30 (31).

In the Baroque era, aphorisms, maxims taken from medical treatises and works of ancient poets (mainly Horace, Virgil and Ovid) and biblical quotations were already commonly decorated with pharmacy ceramics, furniture (cabinets, shelves), entrance portals, walls and display windows. Most of the inscriptions proclaimed belief in the power of medicinal plants (e.g. "Medicines are made from herbs, not words"), emphasized the vanitas theme ("Against the power of death, no herb grows in the garden", "Why does a man die when sage grows in his garden?" ") and, above all, reminded that recovery is a process influenced not only by human knowledge, but above all by God and the saints.