A RARE JAPANESE BLUE AND WHITE DRUG JAR FOR THE WESTERN MARKET EDO PERIOD, C.1650 The tall cylindrical body with a waisted spread foot and an everted rim, painted in underglaze blue with a narrow blank cartouche framed by formal scrolling designs with stylised leaves and swags, the shading rendered with cross-hatching of a darker shade; the banderol embellished with an unusual depiction of a moustached male harpy wearing a neck ruff or millstone collar, perched on an orb; heavily potted with some of the recessed base left unglazed, 28cm. C J A Jörg, Fine & Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections, pp.213-217 for other examples of drug jars for the Western market. Also, s ee O Impey, Japanese Export Porcelain, Catalogue of the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, pp.42-43, for another blue and white jar (pictured opposite with lot 96). This apothecary jar is an unrecorded and possibly unique example. The shape is based on the European albarello (probably from the Arabic term al barani , meaning storage), a container used for spices, herbs and other medicinal products. The European model derived from Persian and Syrian jars from the 12 th -13 th century. This Japanese example dates from c.1650 and was probably made as a special order. The depiction of a male harpy wearing a neck ruff is very unusual, and may have been the armorial used by a particular monastery or apothecary. Comparing this piece to the jar at the Ashmolean Museum (see picture opposite) shows how these pieces were produced in a similar manner, heavily potted and with the surface covered in a thick white splashed glaze. The cobalt-blue decoration on both jars features shading rendered with cross-hatchings in a darker shade of blue. Dr Oliver Impey noted that no prototypes for this type of decorative labels have been found in Dutch earthenware. However, as the fashion for neck ruffs only stretched into the 17 th century in the Dutch Republic, it is likely that the harpy decoration was based on a Dutch model rather than a Portuguese one. The winged creature is also reminiscent of angel-like figures with neck ruffs that can be found on 17 th and 18 th century Dutch jars or apothekerspots . The first recorded order for Arita porcelain by the VOC (1653) included ‘various (small) porcelain bottles, (small) pots, salve and preserve pots for the surgeon’s shop in Batavia, made according to the samples sent’. Other such orders were passed for ‘large and small medicine pots’ to be shipped to Taiwan, and for other unrecorded destinations. Shards of Japanese albarelli were also found in the shipwreck of the Oosterland, a VOC ship wrecked at the Salt River Mouth, South Africa. This jar was possibly made as part of one of these orders. We would like to thank Clare Pollard and Guido Rabbeljee for their kind assistance and suggestions in researching this lot.