A FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN BOTTLE

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN BOTTLE
IRON-RED FOUR-CHARACTER HALLMARK, YONGLE TANG YAN, DAOGUANG

Of moonflask shape, painted on one side with two confronted warriors on horseback, their attendants holding banners, and other foot soldiers in hand-to-hand combat, the other side with one of the equestrian warriors on his knees in submission surrounded by officials in a courtyard interior

Lot Essay

One might normally expect a Yongle Tang zhi mark on such a bottle rather than the unusual one of Yan to replace the zhi. Yan can be read as 'peace'; Yongle Tang can be read as 'Hall of perpetual joy'

For a bottle in ivory depicting two fighting warriors, Huang Zhong and Guan Yu (which this scene perhaps depicts), see The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Journal, Spring, 1988, Gayle Gray Laverlochere, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms Source of Snuff Bottle Subjects", p. 17, fig. 11