A rare Japanese porcelain Dutch-decorated apothecary pot 2nd half 17th century

A rare Japanese porcelain Dutch-decorated apothecary pot 2nd half 17th century, later-enamelled in Holland in the Kakiemon manner with a boy leading a blue striped tiger on a lead, the reverse with a bird perched on flowering prunus beside pine and banded bamboo hedges, the interior rim with red flowerheads on a green cracked ice ground, 8cm high.

Provenance: the Helen Espir Collection, no. 874. Purchased from R & G McPherson, May 2003.

Illustrated: Helen Espir, European Decoration on Oriental Porcelain, p.86, pl.18.

This shape was produced for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and is not an Oriental shape. The decoration dates to the early part of the 18th century and is very true to the Kakiemon original both in palette and design.