Representations of medical instruments and equipment in Serbian medieval painting

Medicine and the art of painting are intertwined when speaking of medical instruments and equipment, since in Serbian Medieval art they were used as a common utility in iconography by the saintly doctors (saintly physicians). Given the fact they have not been subject to specific scientific research, the paper identifies the specific medical instruments and equipment, not only in regard to painting images, but also taking into account archaeological remains. The remains are mainly dating back to the Antique times, more precisely Roman and Late Roman, whereas the findings of the medical instruments used by Byzantine doctors are quite rare. Although the list of examples is not exhausted, the paper encompasses the majority of images preserved in Serbian paintings during the Medieval times, including the unavoidable limitations imposing the degree of preservation of particular works of art. Thereby, it is to be concluded that a very limited number of medical instruments was selected as the saintly doctor’s attribute. Most frequently displayed instrument is the lancet or phlebotomum, while the probes (auriscalpia and cyathiscomelae), spoons (ligulae) and tweezers (vulsellae, volsellae) were more rarely painted. One instrument with special pur purpose has not been identified. When speaking of doctors’ boxes which contained instruments and medicaments, we are presented with the diversity of their shapes. With this aim, the square-like and cylindrical boxes were used. The square-like boxes varied: with the lid which was jointed into the groove (loculis depromit eburnis type), with compartments with the lid which could be lifted (arca, arcula type) or the boxes with no compartments and quite diverse in their form. Cylindrical boxes were elongated and narrow with the lid which could be pulled on (theca vulneraria or specillotheca type) or the round ones, polygonal and elongated with the cylindrical, pyramidal or the halfshaped lid (scrinum, capsa/capsula, cista type). The case – etui, was also used, which is most commonly depicted in Serbian art. The medical oils and healing fluids were kept in glass vessels of various shapes. The significance of these images, together with the literary sources and archaeological materials, is to be found in their documentary value and the immediate testimony on the way of life and its diverse aspects of the specific time, in this case the Medieval Serbia