AN UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE

Details

AN UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, DAOGUANG IRON-RED FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850)
Finely painted on each side with scenes of mating frogs, a pair on one side set amidst asters and grasses, and on the other, three frogs, one of which has caught a cricket in its mouth, amidst other water-side plants and grass, stopper
2 5/16 in. (5.85 cm.) high

Provenance

Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong, 1978

Literature

Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, vol. 1, no. 219
The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, Poly Art Museum, Beijing, p. 89

Exhibited

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 one of the rarer and more amusing designs from the Jingdezhen Imperial kilns of the Daoguang period. Paired frogs, like other paired creatures, suggest conjugal bliss.

Compare with a somewhat coarser Daoguang-marked bottle, also decorated with frogs, illustrated in Snuff Bottles. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 350.

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