PROBABLY IMPERIAL, PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, GUANGZHOU, 1723-1760

Details

**A RARE AND UNUSUAL SILVER-MOUNTED GUANGZHOU ENAMEL SNUFF BOTTLE
PROBABLY IMPERIAL, PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, GUANGZHOU, 1723-1760
Of compressed form with flat lip and foot, the bottle painted in famille rose enamels and gilt on both sides with a lobed panel containing a large pink blossom centered by smaller flowers and scrolling foliage flowers on a yellow ground within a narrow border of gilt and brownish-black floral scrolls, though partially obscured by the mounting, the neck additionally enameled with a narrow pink band of stylized flowers, the bottle encased in an oxidised copper sheath enclosing the neck, foot and narrow sides, and framing the main sides with scalloped edging, the perimeter fitted with small loops to allow for a suspension cord, here, a black silk cord terminating in a tassel, the stopper with integral "cork" designed with a hollow interior and pierced shaft to allow a pinch of snuff to be extracted without fully removing the stopper
2 27/32 in. (7.2 cm.) high, including stopper

Provenance

Sydney L. Moss Ltd.
Count Kurt Blucher von Wahlstatt.
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
Harriet Morse Hamilton.

Literature

H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, p. 119, no. 262.
H. Morse Hamilton, Oriental Snuff Bottles, Palo Alto, 1977, p. 41, no. M32.

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

Although there is no visible mark, this bottle may be attributed to the Guangzhou Imperial workshops based on the similarity of its form and design to others which bear Imperial marks (see V. Jutheau, Guide du Collectionneur de Tabatières Chinoises, p. 55, for an example with a four-character Yongzheng mark in black enamel, and other related examples without mark, in J. Gilmore Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, no. 96; Moss, Graham and Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, no. 181; and A. Brody, Old Wine into Old Bottles. A Collector's Commonplace Book, p. 56).

The bottle's elongated shape is typical of those produced by the Guangzhou workshops during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods and unknown among bottles enameled in the Imperial workshops in Beijing dating from the Kangxi to the second half of the Qianlong period. The design on the bottle also represents the more elaborate ornamentation associated with the Guangzhou artisans than their Beijing counterparts (compare the border here with the formal border on the narrow sides of a Beijing enameled-copper bottle in Moss, Graham and Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, no. 167).

The mounting for cord suspension of these early Guangzhou bottles is known, but this is the most elaborate and impressive of all the mounted bottles.

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