A Rare and Important Chinese Export Famille-Verte 'Peter the Great' Armorial Apothecary Jar, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period, circa 1710

The arms decorated are believed to belong to Peter I (1672-1725), Tsar of Russia, and ordered for his Moscow pharmacy. A majority of jars of this type appear to be preserved in Russia. A spouted jar and cover, and two cylindrical jars, is illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, Porcelain of the East India Companies, London, 1962, pl. XXIII, p. 125. The author notes that these early examples demonstrate the great interest taken by the Russian aristocracy. An example with the mouth and neck reduced, is in the Franks Collection at the British Museum, acc. no. Franks.604. A pair of nearly identical examples sold at Christie's London, May 9, 1994, lot 170.