**AN UNUSUAL ANHUA-DECORATED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE

JINGDE ZHEN KILNS, 1790-1840

Details

**AN UNUSUAL ANHUA-DECORATED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
JINGDE ZHEN KILNS, 1790-1840
Of ovoid form with wide mouth and recessed foot surrounded by a footrim, the sides decorated with two fierce five-clawed dragons shown amidst clouds and flames as one rises from a band of wind-tossed waves at the base to confront the other flying amidst clouds, the incised decoration filled with the clear overglaze so that it appears as a pale blue-green color in contrast to the white ground, coral stopper with metal collar
2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high

Provenance

Hugh Moss Ltd.

Lot Essay

The subtle anhua (hidden decoration) technique was used from the fourteenth century onwards on a range of Imperial ceramics. The five-clawed dragons here suggest that, despite this bottle remaining unmarked, it is an Imperial product, as were so many unmarked wares. This seems confirmed by a bottle of very similar shape, also with anhua decoration, illustrated by R. Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles. Masterpieces from the Reitberg Museum Zurich, pp. 36-7, no. 12. A second bottle with underglaze-blue decoration, also of similar form and with a wide neck, is also in the collection of the Reitberg Museum, ibid., no. 11. Both bottles bear late Qianlong marks, providing evidence that the wide-mouthed form more commonly associated with the first half of the nineteenth century may be traced back to the Qianlong period.

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