A RARE ENAMELED ELEPHANT-FORM SNUFF BOTTLE

Details

A RARE ENAMELED ELEPHANT-FORM SNUFF BOTTLE
PROBABLY IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, 1770-1800
Molded in the form of a recumbent caparisoned white elephant with an iron-red and gilt enamelled zun raised on a saddle with a finely decorated turquoise-ground saddle-cloth, stopper
1 9/16 in. (3.9 cm.) high

Provenance

The Hon. Irene Austin (the Fernhill Park Collection - formed between 1944 and 1977)
The Chinese Porcelain Company
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.

Literature

Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Fernhill Park Collection, p. 6, no. 1
Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, vol. 1, no. 237
The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, p. 85

Exhibited

The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York and Boston, October 1991
Christie's New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

Lot Essay

This is a superb example of one of the earliest animal molds known. Several molds were used during the same period with slight variations. Bottles from two different molds are illustrated in Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Fernhill Park Collection, no. 3, and in Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 6, p. 41, C38, from the Marquess of Exeter Collection. There is another very close in form but from a different mould in Passion Mandchoue. Flacons a Tabac, p. 35. In most cases, the elephant is left without enamels, as the white elephant is an auspicious Buddhist symbol.

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