Lot Essay
There are similar bottles decorated in underglaze blue with the same initial 'G' on the base. As with Japanese apothecary bottles with initials to the base, these must refer to the persons who commissioned them. This shape is after a European prototype and may have been used - as with the glass bottles - for spirits. Cf. J.A.G. Jrg & J. van Campen, Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, catalogue, 1997, pp. 259-260, fig. 298-299.