Object Description
Chinese late 17th /early 18th century blue and white porcelain gin or spirit bottles made during the reign of the Emperor Kangxi at the kilns at Jingdezhen for export to Europe with either the British or Dutch East India Company
.The sides are painted with either a landscape river scene with mountains, stratified rock and pagoda and retreat on the banks of a river, a Confucian scholar standing on the flat promontory. the other two sides painted with bamboo and prunus issuing from hollow rock. Both panels are outlined in blue and the neck painted with peony blossom sprays.
Gin Bottles or spirit bottles were popular with export merchants as their shape made it easy for the bottles to be packed with out much wastage of space, and vitulars who filled the bottles wanted these porcelain shapes for the same reason as the merchants, they were also more robust than the round glass bottles.
The Royal navy was said to be the largest buyer of such bottles outside the aristocracy!
As often happens on using the bottles after the contents was drunk the lids were lost or broken. These bottles have good wooden carved replacement lids