Large Apothecary Bottle in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, June 2018

Large Apothecary Bottle (Primary Title)
江戶時代 有田 伊萬里染付大瓶 (Primary Title)


Unknown (Artist)

Date: 1660 - 1680

Culture: Japanese

Category: Ceramics
Containers-Vessels

Medium: Arita ware; porcelain with underglaze blue decoration

Collection: East Asian Art

Geography: Arita, Japan

Dimensions: Overall: 19 1/2 × 13 1/2 in. (49.53 × 34.29 cm)

Object Number: 72.36


The four panels of this apothecary bottle are decorated with the motifs of peonies and myna birds, a design derived from a Chinese prototype in Jingdezhen. This bottle, whose lid is lost, was made at a kiln in Arita, Japan by the order of the Dutch East India Company for the Portuguese market.

Text from: www.vmfa.museum/piction/6027262-8094776