Bai Apothecary Jar

In traditional Chinese medicine, drugs alone could not cure a person's illness. A physician would strive to balance their patients' vital energy, or yin and yang—a person is believed to become ill when these two aspects lose harmony. To restore the balance of a patient's energies, an apothecary would use specialty herbal medicines, stored in large ceramic jars that lined the shop's walls. This beautiful early 20th-century vessel was one such jar and today makes for a striking addition to a bookcase or console table.