Medicine vessel with a lid and an image of the Russian coat-of-arms with a double-headed eagle

Porcelain, glaze, overglaze painting with enamel

paints, gilding

China. 1700–1710s

Height (with the lid) 21.5 cm

Photo: L. Heifitz

Items made of Chinese porcelain, including potion and medicine bottles, were purchased to equip Moscow pharmacies by decree of Peter the Great at the turn of the 18th century from the East India Company shipyards in Amsterdam. The first pharmacies of St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress were also decorated with Chinese porcelain. There are two main forms of such bottles currently known: high cylindrical “jars” and pear-shaped vase-like bottles with lids, which were made into jugs in Russia.