A perfume maker?

[Carl Lavoie]

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From an oldish (1998) Sotheby’s catalogue, this b/w shot of a small painting with the title: "An Alchemist in a Courtyard."

Really atypical for this type of picture, for it is neither the chaotic vessels strewn place of a bumbling fool at his furnace, nor the dimly lit room of a studious philosopher poring over his tome, athanor at his elbow.

Here we have an open scene. On the right-hand side, a vista of flower gardens. On the left, a clean, spacious, orderly laboratory. On the foreground, distillation taking place at an almost commercial scale.

Now the museum curators and the auction catalogue compilers have that tendency of labeling any painting with a vial in it an ‘alchemy' scene.

A physician examining to the light the urine of his patient: "Alchemist […]"
A quack surgeon performing a trepanation has two bottles on his shelves? "Alchemist […]"

Anyway, what do you make of this image? I was leaning for a depiction of a perfume maker (as the artist choose to depict the rose (?) bushes and some cut flowers on the table.) But it could be a lot of things. Bruce T. Moran, in his Distilling Knowledge (2005) has a whole chapter on ‘Alchemy in Artisan and Daily Life.'
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[Paul Ferguson]

Or a herbalist perhaps. I don't see anything specially alchemical about the equipment, but I suppose, as you say, that any picture with a pelican in it is going to be catalogued as alchemical.

[Adam McLean]

Is it not a pharmacy?

We see on the left a hall with a door seemingly onto the street. High on the walls are storage jars, possibly for herbs, minerals and distilled oils. There is a long counter on which some men are mixing or grinding materials in a mortar and pestle. One figure is weighing out materials.

On the right, a woman is placing a flask onto an elaborate furnace which can distil a number of items at the same time. Behind her, we see a garden, possibly for growing various herbs and medicinal plants.

At the centre, an apothecary is reading a large book, perhaps looking for the right remedy for a condition. He mediates between the woman operating the distillation train and those working in the hall on the left.

[Carl Lavoie]

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Indeed, herbalist and apothecary seems about right. 

No need to tagged him "Alchemist".
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