Bottle

The inscription “ISTO MANDOU FAZER JORGE ALVRZ NA//A ERA DE 1552 REINA” ("THIS WAS COMMISSIONES BY JORGE ALVREZ IN THE PERIOD OF THE 1522 REIGN") confirms the identity of the commissioner. Jorge Álvares was a rich merchant from Freixo de Espada à Cinta, partner of the wealthy merchant-writer Fernão Mendes Pinto and involved in the Portuguese-Chinese-Japanese trade of spices and sapon wood from Southeast Asia, Chinese silks and porcelain, and Japanese silver.
It was this maritime and merchant network that led to the birth of Macau in 1555-1557.
Jorge Álvares also wrote Informação das Coisas do Japão in Malacca in late 1547; this was the first work on Japan written in Portuguese (or any other Western language).