# Apothecary — style guide for coding agents

> Generated from the Aesthetary record for **Apothecary**.
> Research: **Partly sourced** · Build guidance: recorded in 6 of 8 research dimensions.
> 10 sources attached.

## How to use this

Paste this file into your agent as context before asking it to design or build something in this visual language. It states what is established, what is our interpretation, and what nobody has established. Treat all three differently.

**The most important section is "Not researched yet".** Its purpose is to stop you and your agent inventing rules that sound right and are not recorded anywhere.

## What this language is

**Defining:** Amber and cobalt glass, engraved labels, ruled dosage detail, botanical line art

**Recognise it by:** Amber and cobalt glass tones against an off-white label ground, with engraved botanical line art, condensed serif capitals, and ruled quantified detail — dose, volume, ingredient — set as if to a pharmacopoeia standard. The diagnostic element is the specified measure: the register's authority comes from the appearance of regulated quantification, and a version without numbers is just a Victorian label. Archival organises a collection; this organises one preparation. Victorian crowds many faces onto a page for economic reasons; this uses few, precisely.

**Family:** Narrative & Thematic
**Era:** 19th-century
**Native medium:** packaging

**Scope:** The visual register of historical pharmacy containers and labels: amber and cobalt glass (light and poison safeguards), Latin-labelled jars, as Aesthetary's packaging language; herbal botanicals and ruled dosage detail are our additions.

## What it is arguing

A preparation is a formulation, and a formulation is specified. Presenting the quantity, the ingredient and the measure with the precision of a pharmacopoeia borrows the authority of regulated practice.

**It refuses:** Refuses vagueness about quantity, and refuses any decoration that would undercut the claim to precision.

## What it is not

Commonly confused with these. Getting the difference right matters more than getting the surface right:

- Victorian
- Archival

## Established rules

Grouped by what kind of claim each is. A requirement of the language and our own interpretation are not interchangeable.

**How to read each rule.** Every rule states two separate things, and neither stands in for the other:

- **Kind of claim** (the heading): From our catalogue entry · Our reading · Documented · Source attached.
- **Evidence** (how it is established): Graded by our research brief · No source attached (`DOCUMENTED`) · From our catalogue entry (`SUPPORTED`) · Our reading (`CURATORIAL`) · Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`) · No grade recorded (no grade in the record). Where a claim has its own canonical label, the Evidence line gives that label instead of the grade.
- **Product area**: which of the twelve areas the rule belongs to (Layout, Typography, Color, Imagery, Surface, Interface, Motion, Motif, Technique, Form, Hierarchy, Density), mapped from its raw area label in bold. "Context" means the rule is about the Aesthetic (its name, origin, lineage) rather than a part of the design. "Not mapped" means the raw area has no single area yet.
- The code in brackets is the `grade` field at `implementationConstraints.tokenRules.value.rules[].provenance.grade` in https://aesthetary.com/data/apothecary.json. "From our catalogue entry" means: Stated in Aesthetary’s existing catalogue entry. An outside source is named only where one is linked to the claim.

### From our catalogue entry

_Carried over from Aesthetary's original catalogue entry. The reasoning behind it was never recorded._

- **typography** — Typography: condensed serif, uppercase, display.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Typography
- **color** — Colour: amber, cobalt, off-white.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Color
- **imagery** — Imagery: engraved botanical line art.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: Imagery
- **form / motif / surface / technique** — Form / motif / surface / technique: glass, engraving, ruled fields.
  - Kind of claim: From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry · Product area: not mapped

### Our reading

- **layout** — A bounded label field with a ruled border, centred, with the measure set apart from the name. Not a claim — reasoned from the signature and from what a bottle label physically is.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Layout
- **hierarchy** — Rank: ingredient name, then measure, then everything else. The measure outranks the description, which is the inversion that makes the register legible.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Hierarchy
- **register** — No source defines an apothecary visual language. The register is Aesthetary's assembly from surviving pharmacy labels and jars, and its rules are ours.
  - Kind of claim: Our reading · Evidence: Our reading · Product area: Context (not a design area)

## Found in research

What research established from sources Aesthetary opened and checked. Each line names its area, how it is known, and where it is scoped. "Seen in the work" means the source documents particular works or products rather than the Aesthetic as a whole.

- **Motif** — Poison bottles featured raised lettering, patterns, deep grooves, geometric shapes or skull and crossbones; in 1872 the AMA also recommended rough texturing along one side.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-1` · Covers poison bottles, US, recommended from 1853 and 1872.
- **Motif** — A collectors' source says raised patterns and shapes on poison bottles were especially useful when fumbling with bottles by candlelight.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-2` · Covers dealer/collector source; secondary to OHSU.
- **Motif** — Poison bottles later switched to plainer designs.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-3` · Covers from the 1930s.
- **Motif** — Heraldic ornament appears on at least one early pharmacy bottle: a gold ribbon and a shield crest.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:motif-4` · Covers single Italian 17th-century object; not evidence of a system.
- **Form** — The albarello is a pharmacy storage jar with concave sides for grip, closed with parchment or cloth tied over the mouth.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-1` · Covers Italian tin-glazed earthenware, c. 1450; a ceramic vessel, not glass.
- **Form** — At least one glass drug jar (probably Spanish, 17th or 18th century) was closed with a parchment lid.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-2` · Covers one catalogued jar, probably Spanish, 17th or 18th century.
- **Form** — The shop round, a round glass storage bottle, is a catalogued pharmacy type, and the examples opened are clear glass.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-3` · Covers English, 19th century.
- **Form** — The Boston round is cylindrical, without a handle, with a short curved shoulder.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-4` · Covers drug and chemical trade bottle; encyclopaedia source.
- **Form** — Shape was a poison signal: poison bottles were made in distinctive shapes, including hexagonal and triangular forms.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-5` · Covers poison containers only.
- **Form** — Large clear-glass display bottles filled with coloured liquid stood on bases in pharmacies.
  - Evidence: Documented · Source attached · Claim: `kcc:form-6` · Covers English, 1920-1955.

## Positions by area

The overall position recorded for each area. "No overall position recorded" means rules exist for the area but no position above them; the rules still apply. It is not the same as "Not established", which means nobody has researched the area.

- **Layout** — Specified
- **Typography** — Specified
- **Color** — Specified
- **Imagery** — Specified
- **Surface** — Specified
- **Motif** — Specified
- **Technique** — Specified
- **Form** — Specified
- **Motion** — Outside this language. The area does not apply; this is not a gap in the research.

## Design grammar — web primitives

A starting grammar for a website in Apothecary: one preparation on a ruled off-white label, amber and cobalt glass around it, the measure outranking the description, and danger marked by shape and texture as poison bottles were.

Three kinds of line: **On the record** names a rule this record holds (its wording is under Established rules) and states what it becomes on the web. **Web translation** is Aesthetary's choice for the web, derived from the rules it cites; change it if you have a reason, keep the cited rule. **Not specified by the source** means the research reached this but the sources say nothing about it; **Not researched yet** means the research has not reached it yet. Either way, follow the instruction and do not invent a rule. Structured version: `designGrammar` in data/apothecary.json.

### Colour

| Role | Value | Contrast | Use | Kind |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| label | `#F4EFE2` | — | The label ground: every field of text sits on it. | Web translation |
| ink | `#2B2416` | 13.4:1 | Text and rules. | Web translation |
| amber | `#7A4A12` | 6.5:1 | Glass, and the measure on the label. | Web translation |
| cobalt | `#1F3E8C` | 8.6:1 | Glass, links and focus. | Web translation |
| paper | `#FBF7EC` | — | The page behind the labels. | Web translation |

Other accents the record supports:

- clear glass (recorded as "the shop rounds catalogued are clear glass"): `transparent over #FBF7EC`

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:color-5` → Work in amber, cobalt and off-white.
- **Web translation** — Keep clear glass beside amber and cobalt. _Why:_ The shop rounds opened in research are clear glass, and display bottles were clear glass holding coloured liquid. (`claim:kcc:form-3`, `claim:kcc:form-6`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify which amber or which cobalt. _Instead:_ The glass tones are a declared freedom; these are the room's.

### Typography

Family: serif display capitals, with Frank Ruhl for running text. Stack: `"ItalianaX", "Didot", serif`

| Role | Size | Weight | Line height | Case | Tracking | Measure | Use |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| name | clamp(2rem, 5.5vw, 3.9rem) | 400 | 1.05 | uppercase | 0.12em | — | The preparation's name. |
| measure | clamp(1.6rem, 5vw, 3.25rem) | 800 | 1 | not specified | not specified | — | The quantity, in Frank Ruhl heavy, amber. |
| text | 1.125rem | 400 | 1.6 | not specified | not specified | 64ch | Descriptions, in Frank Ruhl. |

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:typography-4` → Set display in condensed serif capitals.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-3` → No sans-serif.
- **Web translation** — Use Italiana for capitals and Frank Ruhl for text and numbers. _Why:_ The room's own serifs; Italiana is lighter than a condensed face, so keep it to display sizes and tracked. (`token_rule:typography-4`)
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify a period face. _Instead:_ Label lettering varied by maker; do not present one face as the pharmacy standard.

### Grid and layout

A label, not a grid: one bounded field, centred, ruled, with the measure set apart. A page is a sheet of such labels, spaced so none crowds another.

Tokens: measure `64ch` · label-max `720px` · gap `32px`

- **On the record · Our reading** · `token_rule:layout-3` → Bound each field with a ruled border and centre it.
- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `claim:surface-8.layout` → Work in ruled fields.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-4` → No crowding.
- **Not specified by the source** — The sources do not specify a column system. _Instead:_ Set labels in a simple repeat; say so if you add a grid.

### Shape and geometry

Tokens: radius `0` · corner `14px clipped` · rule-double `1px, 3px gap, 1px` · rule-hair `1px`

- **Web translation** — Clip label corners; keep every other corner square. _Why:_ The label is the one bounded shape the record describes; clipped corners mark it as a label rather than a box. (`token_rule:layout-3`)
- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `claim:surface-8.surface`, `claim:surface-8.technique` → Treat the surface as glass and the detail as engraving.

### Imagery

- **On the record · From our catalogue entry** · `token_rule:imagery-7` → Use engraved botanical line art.
- **On the record · Our reading** · `claim:failure-2` → No photography.
- **Web translation** — Draw botanicals as single-weight SVG line in the dark amber. _Why:_ Engraving is line; one stroke weight keeps it an engraving at any size. (`token_rule:imagery-7`, `claim:surface-8.technique`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Heraldic ornament is observed once, not a system. _Instead:_ One Italian bottle carries a ribbon and shield; do not add crests to every label.

### Marking danger

Pharmacy glass marked poison by shape and touch: hexagonal and triangular bottles, raised lettering, deep grooves, a rough side. A warning here reads without colour.

Tokens: warning-shape `hexagon` · warning-texture `ribbed border`

- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:form-5` → Mark poison by shape: hexagonal and triangular forms.
- **On the record · Documented** · `claim:kcc:motif-1` → Mark it by texture: raised lettering, patterns, deep grooves, a roughened side.
- **Web translation** — Give a warning its own shape and a ribbed border, as well as words. _Why:_ Poison was signalled so it could be felt in poor light; on screen, shape and texture signal it without relying on colour. (`claim:kcc:form-5`, `claim:kcc:motif-1`, `claim:kcc:motif-2`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Later poison bottles were plainer. _Instead:_ The raised system belongs to its period; do not texture every label.

### Components

Anatomy, tokens and states below are Web translation: Aesthetary's specification for the screen. Each value line after them says whether it restates a rule this record holds.

#### Button

A small label: off-white field inside a double ruled border, the action in spaced display capitals.

- Anatomy: off-white field; double ink rule (1px, 3px gap, 1px); label in Italiana capitals, tracked
- Tokens: background `#F4EFE2` · color `#2B2416` · border `double rule, inset` · radius `0` · tracking `0.18em`
- State, default: Ink capitals inside the double rule.
- State, hover: Capitals turn cobalt.
- State, focus: 2px cobalt outline, 4px outside.
- State, active: Field darkens to the sage wash.
- State, disabled: Rules dotted, capitals in olive.
- Accessibility: Ink on off-white at 13.4:1.
- Accessibility: At least 44px tall.
- Accessibility: Display capitals at 15px minimum; the tracking is never used to fit a longer word.
- **Web translation** — Make the button a small ruled label. _Why:_ The record's layout reading is a bounded label field with a ruled border; an action is one more label. (`token_rule:layout-3`, `claim:surface-8.layout`)
- **Web translation** — Set its text in serif display capitals. _Why:_ The type rule is a condensed serif in capitals, used for display. (`token_rule:typography-4`)

#### Card

A bottle label: the name, then the measure set large and apart between rules, then the description.

- Anatomy: clipped-corner off-white field with double inset rule; name in display capitals; measure: a number in amber, ruled above and below; description in the text serif, small
- Tokens: background `#F4EFE2` · corner `14px clip` · measure `#7A4A12` · rule `1px solid #2B2416`
- State, default: Name, measure, description, in that rank.
- State, hover: The inner rule turns cobalt.
- State, focus: 2px cobalt outline outside the clipped corners.
- Accessibility: The whole label is one link.
- Accessibility: The measure is real text, not an image, and reads as part of the link name.
- **Web translation** — Rank the name first, the measure second, everything else after. _Why:_ That is the order the record reads on a printed bottle label; the card keeps it on screen. (`token_rule:hierarchy-13`)
- **Web translation** — Centre the label and set the measure apart from the name. _Why:_ The record reads the label as one bounded, centred field; a card is that field on screen. (`token_rule:layout-3`)
- **Web translation** — Never show a card without a quantity. _Why:_ Dropping the measure is not open; without it the label reads as decorative Victorian. (`claim:failure-7`, `claim:failure-1`)

#### Input

A line on a formula card: label in small capitals, a dotted leader, the value, and its unit.

- Anatomy: label in small capitals; field ruled underneath (1px ink); unit after the field (ml, g); error in amber-brown text beginning "Error:"
- Tokens: border-bottom `1px solid #2B2416` · background `transparent` · unit `required where the value is a quantity` · height `2.75rem`
- State, default: A ruled line with its unit beside it.
- State, focus: The rule thickens to 2px cobalt, plus an outline.
- State, error: Message in the dark amber (9.1:1), beginning "Error:".
- State, disabled: Dotted rule.
- Accessibility: The label is a real label, not a placeholder.
- Accessibility: The unit is inside the accessible name ("Volume, millilitres").
- Accessibility: Error text is words, not colour alone.
- **Web translation** — Ask for quantities with their unit. _Why:_ The register refuses vagueness about quantity; a field that takes an amount without a unit is vague. (`claim:intent-negation`, `claim:failure-1`)
- **Not specified by the source** — Form conventions are not researched yet. _Instead:_ Do not dress the field as a prescription pad; keep it a ruled line.

#### Navigation

A row of drawer labels: tracked display capitals between hairline rules, the current one double-ruled beneath.

- Anatomy: ink hairline above and below; links in Italiana capitals; current page: double rule under, in amber
- Tokens: rule `1px solid #2B2416` · current `3px double #7A4A12` · tracking `0.18em`
- State, default: Ink capitals, no underline.
- State, hover: Cobalt capitals.
- State, focus: 2px cobalt outline.
- State, current: Amber double rule under the label.
- Accessibility: aria-current on the current page.
- Accessibility: Each link at least 44px tall.
- **Web translation** — Rule the navigation like a label's border. _Why:_ The bounded, ruled field is the record's one layout reading. (`token_rule:layout-3`, `claim:surface-8.layout`)

### Motion

- **Web translation** — A label does not move. _Why:_ The record gives this as the reason motion is absent: a printed label is still, so the screen holds still too. (`claim:motion-reason`)
- **Web translation** — State changes are instant: a colour, a rule. _Why:_ Nothing in the register moves, so nothing on the screen eases in. (`claim:motion-reason`)

### Deliberately not added

- **Exact glass tones** (color): Which amber and cobalt is a declared freedom.
- **A period face** (typography): The record gives a class (condensed serif capitals), not a face.
- **A column system** (gridLayout): The record describes a label, not a grid.
- **Interface conventions** (components): The research record does not establish them. The four components are contemporary translations of documented rules.
- **Screen motion** (motion): A label does not move; motion is not specified by the source.

## Coverage — what has been looked at

One row per research dimension a research pass considered. "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) means exactly that; a dimension can carry an Aesthetary recommendation and still be unresearched, and those are different things.

| Research dimension | Evidence | Resolved by | Carries a rule |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Composition | Specified · Our reading | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Typography | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Hierarchy | Specified · Our reading | Aesthetary decided | yes |
| Colour | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Density | Not specified by the source | Aesthetary decided | no |
| Imagery | Specified · From our catalogue entry | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Form / motif / surface / technique | Specified | follows the recorded claim | yes |
| Motion | Not specified by the source | — | no |

## Not researched yet

Nobody has established a position for this language on:

- Interface

**Do not fill these in.** An absent position is absent research, not permission and not a blank for you to complete. If the work needs a decision in one of these areas, make it on other grounds and do not attribute it to this language.

## Grade your own work

18 checks: 6 mechanically testable, 10 needing a person to look, 0 needing a source Aesthetary does not hold, 2 with no recorded position. 2 further research dimensions produced no rule (Density, Motion). This rubric is silent on them. 1 context rule is listed apart: known about this Aesthetic, not something to check finished work against. Scores do not add up. A failure against a required rule and a departure from something we invented are not the same result, and no total should let them cancel.

### Recognition — does this read as the intended Aesthetic?

- **[visual_human · recognition signature · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Strip every logo, word and borrowed image out of your work, then show it to someone who knows the collection. Do they land on this Aesthetic? The signature to hold is: Amber and cobalt glass tones against an off-white label ground, with engraved botanical line art, condensed serif capitals, and ruled quantified detail — dose, volume, ingredient — set as if to a pharmacopoeia standard. The diagnostic element is the specified measure: the register's authority comes from the appearance of regulated quantification, and a version without numbers is just a Victorian label. Archival organises a collection; this organises one preparation. Victorian crowds many faces onto a page for economic reasons; this uses few, precisely.
  - _If it fails:_ The work may be competent and still read as a different Aesthetic, or as none. Nothing below matters until this passes.

### Fidelity — are its defining rules present?

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Nothing is recorded as a requirement of this Aesthetic. There is no rule here that your work must hold — which means nothing you do can fail this dimension, and nothing you do can satisfy it either. That is missing research, not freedom: our research brief does record failure modes to avoid, listed under avoidance below. They are recorded judgement, not requirements.
  - _If it fails:_ Not applicable. An empty dimension is an absence of research, never a pass and never a failure.

### Implementation — were those rules translated appropriately into this medium?

- **[visual_human · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. A bounded label field with a ruled border, centred, with the measure set apart from the name. Not a claim — reasoned from the signature and from what a bottle label physically is.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Typography: condensed serif, uppercase, display.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Our reading · Evidence: Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Rank: ingredient name, then measure, then everything else. The measure outranks the description, which is the inversion that makes the register legible.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Colour: amber, cobalt, off-white.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Imagery: engraved botanical line art.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · From our catalogue entry · Evidence: From our catalogue entry]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Form / motif / surface / technique: glass, engraving, ruled fields.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.

### Avoidance — known failure modes, neighbour drift, cloning

- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No unquantified claims.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No photography.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No sans-serif.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No crowding.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[mechanical · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: No implication of a licence the subject does not hold.
  - _If it fails:_ A failure mode recorded in our research brief: recorded judgement about what weakens this Aesthetic, not a requirement of the language.
- **[visual_human · recorded failure mode · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Have you made any of these changes? Each one moves the work into a neighbouring Aesthetic: Against Archival: one preparation versus a collection. Against Victorian: precision versus density. Anti-signature: remove the quantified detail and it becomes decorative Victorian. Multiply the items into a catalogue and it becomes Archival.
  - _If it fails:_ You have built the neighbour. That may be fine — but name which Aesthetic you are in.
- **[mechanical · declared closure · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Check your work against this: Not open: dropping the measure..
  - _If it fails:_ This one is closed, not open. The record says generation must not go here.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Victorian? That language is: Typographic density from hot-metal economics; many faces, one page
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Victorian than to this Aesthetic.
- **[visual_human · neighbour drift · Evidence: No grade recorded]** Could your work be mistaken for Archival? That language is: Knowledge presented as an ordered collection; needs volume to justify itself
  - _If it fails:_ Not necessarily wrong, but you are closer to Archival than to this Aesthetic.

### Accessibility — the Aesthetic preserved without its inaccessible practice

- **[unassessable · no recorded position · Evidence: Not researched yet (`UNKNOWN`)]** Does this Aesthetic conflict with any usability floor? Nobody has recorded one for it.
  - _If it fails:_ Nothing — and that is the problem. An unrecorded conflict is not an absent one. Hold AA on reading matter and decide the rest on other grounds.

### Context — known about this Aesthetic, not a check

Where the Aesthetic comes from, what it is called, how it sits among its neighbours. Use it to understand the work; do not score finished work against it.

- No source defines an apothecary visual language. The register is Aesthetary's assembly from surviving pharmacy labels and jars, and its rules are ours. _(Our reading · Evidence: Our reading)_

**Not covered at all:** Density: Not specified by the source; Motion: Not specified by the source. These research dimensions produced no rule, so there is no check. Treat them as unscored, never as passed and never as failed.

## Rules for the agent

1. Do not invent rules for any area listed under **Not researched yet**.
2. Do not treat an absent position as permission to do anything you like — say that the language has no position, and decide on other grounds.
3. Keep our interpretations separable from the language's own requirements. If asked to justify a choice, cite which kind of claim it came from.
4. If you need something this record does not contain, say so rather than producing a confident answer from the aesthetic's name.
5. When you self-score against "Grade your own work", score only checks marked `mechanical`. Declare `visual_human` and `evidence_dependent` checks unjudged rather than guessing, and never score an `unassessable` one.
6. Evidence "Not researched yet" (`UNKNOWN`) is never a failure. It means nobody researched the dimension, so departing from what is written there costs nothing and must not be reported as a defect. "No grade recorded" is not a grade either: do not treat it as our decision or as an outside source.
7. In **Design grammar**, a "Web translation" line is our choice for the web and may be changed with a reason; the rules it cites may not. Never present a translation as a property of the language.

## Provenance

- Record: `apothecary` · status `draft` · research `not_researched`
- Full structured record: https://aesthetary.com/data/apothecary.json
- Human-readable record: https://aesthetary.com/a/apothecary.html
- This file is a snapshot. The record may have changed since; check the page above.

_Aesthetary is an alpha. Where a page says nothing, nobody has done the work yet._