Rambling around the internet, I discovered that they first appeared in Baghdad in the late Middle Ages, hence the Oriental appearance.
This is intriguing. What were they made of? And what shape? Do you have a link that shows photos of them? If they're Persian they might have some nice decoration. Or not.
Looking at what are called apothecary jars on ebay, it's clear that people are willing to call practically anything with a lid and foot an apothecary jar. One guy got so frustrated about it he wrote an ebay guide,
"THE FACTS (AND FICTION) ABOUT APOTHECARY JARS" but who knows how factual it really is. Still, he makes some good points.
What is known in the US as apothecary jars seems to refer more a shape than actual use in an apothecary. Ivo - did the dealers mean they were actually used in apothecaries? That would surprise me, since you can't see the contents, they would be quite top-heavy when full, and they have feet. I can understand jars having feet if used to display things, but then why would they be grey? Usually photo-sensitive stuff was in dark amber jars, since they could use iron to color them.
Bernard's jar kind of reminds me of a variant on a covered pokal.