Of very large size, this is one of the finest apothecary bottles to appear at auction. For a discussion on this type of export production and their use at Batavia in the hospital and apothecary shops, see O.Impey The beginning of the Export Trade in Japanese Porcelain, the "HYAKUNENAN" Journal of Porcelain Study, no.3, Arita, Summer 1989, Catalogus tentoonstelling Japans blauw en wit porselein and T. Volker, The Japanese porcelain trade of the Dutch East India Company after 1683, Leiden 1959