Spherical bottle on foot ring, the belly gradually merging into the tapering neck with double mouth collar. Decorated in underglaze blue with peony branches and birds. Within this is a triple lobed medallion with the inscription 'Ds:VANDr:Hòf.'. On the neck elongated pointed leaves, the ends blending into a vertical line. This type of bottle is called an "apothecary's bottle," after the specimens without inscriptions ordered for the "apothecary's store" in Batavia in Japan. However, private clients also had them made, but to serve as bottles for wine or spirits. Six, nine or twelve at a time, they were kept in a fine wooden box, a 'cellar'. Sometimes these private bottles were decorated with the owner's initials or an indication of the contents. This bottle, however, is unique, the only known example on which the owner's name is written in full. In 2019, it was revealed that the bottle did not belong to a pastor, as was always thought because of "Ds" before the name, but that Ds indicates a first name: Dionys van der Hof. He was an alderman in Batavia and died there in 1706 (source: Mr. J Veenendaal). Translated with DeepL.com (free version)