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Lot Essay
Previously sold in our New York Rooms, 2 June 1994, lot 505.
For an extensive discussion on the Imperial Palace enamel workshops in Beijing, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, Hong Kong, 1993, pp. 268-295. Of the numerous examples illustrated, no. 173, appears to come closest in style, particularly the European subject, which suggests that both bottles maybe by the same hand. Another bottle of octagonal shape, sold in our New York Rooms, 3 December 1992, lot 428, also bears a close resemblance, as evident in the treatment of the lady's hair, in both cases lightly blowing in a breeze, and in the backdrop of neatly stippled sky and yellow-trimmed green hedges. The gilt-copper stoppers in all three examples appear very similar.
Cf. a small rounded rectangular bottle with European ladies on both faces and similar pink landscape panels on the narrow sides, illustrated ibid., p. 279, no. 172, where the authors state, "The ruby vignettes painted in the side panels are taken directly from imported enamel panels. A small group of European enamel panels converted into boxes and covers during the Qianlong period, apparently in the Palace workshops, is known, and one of these has ruby enamelled panels on a white ground. The ruby and white vignettes were common to highly Imperial production in the enamelling workshops of the Beijing Palace, whether on metal, glass or porcelain, and were also echoed in ceramics at the Imperial porcelain works at Jingdezhen.".
For other examples of ruby enamel painting on copper, refer to ibid., no. 178; and to the 'European landscape' snuff bottle sold in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 29 April 2002, lot 526. A glass snuff bottle with painted enamel, illustrated by Moss et. al., op. cit., no. 185, may also be compared with the present lot, where finely enamelled vignettes of European ladies and children are alternated with smaller panels of pink landscapes. Another example with similar figures is illustrated in Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, no. 14.
For an extensive discussion on the Imperial Palace enamel workshops in Beijing, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, Hong Kong, 1993, pp. 268-295. Of the numerous examples illustrated, no. 173, appears to come closest in style, particularly the European subject, which suggests that both bottles maybe by the same hand. Another bottle of octagonal shape, sold in our New York Rooms, 3 December 1992, lot 428, also bears a close resemblance, as evident in the treatment of the lady's hair, in both cases lightly blowing in a breeze, and in the backdrop of neatly stippled sky and yellow-trimmed green hedges. The gilt-copper stoppers in all three examples appear very similar.
Cf. a small rounded rectangular bottle with European ladies on both faces and similar pink landscape panels on the narrow sides, illustrated ibid., p. 279, no. 172, where the authors state, "The ruby vignettes painted in the side panels are taken directly from imported enamel panels. A small group of European enamel panels converted into boxes and covers during the Qianlong period, apparently in the Palace workshops, is known, and one of these has ruby enamelled panels on a white ground. The ruby and white vignettes were common to highly Imperial production in the enamelling workshops of the Beijing Palace, whether on metal, glass or porcelain, and were also echoed in ceramics at the Imperial porcelain works at Jingdezhen.".
For other examples of ruby enamel painting on copper, refer to ibid., no. 178; and to the 'European landscape' snuff bottle sold in these Rooms, The Imperial Sale, 29 April 2002, lot 526. A glass snuff bottle with painted enamel, illustrated by Moss et. al., op. cit., no. 185, may also be compared with the present lot, where finely enamelled vignettes of European ladies and children are alternated with smaller panels of pink landscapes. Another example with similar figures is illustrated in Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, no. 14.