**AN ENAMELED WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more
**AN ENAMELED WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE

IMPERIAL, ATTRIBUTED TO YANGZHOU, 1767-1799

Details
**AN ENAMELED WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, ATTRIBUTED TO YANGZHOU, 1767-1799
Of flattened meiping form, with flat lip and concave oval foot, the translucent white glass painted with famille rose enamels with two garden scenes, each covering one main and one narrow side, one of a butterfly above yellow hibiscus and another pink flower, the other of a katydid on flowering chrysanthemums, the foot inscribed in seal script Guyue xuan (Ancient Moon Pavilion), tourmaline stopper
2½ in. (6.35 cm.) high
Provenance
Henry and Kuo H. Chien, East Lansing, Michigan
Sotheby's, New York, 22 March 2000, lot 168
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.
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

Recent scholarship argues that a distinctive group of glass bottles was produced in Yangzhou for the Court between the 1767 construction of the Guyue Xuan Hall in the Qianlong Emperor's Summer Palace and his death in 1799. Hugh Moss discusses several examples in "Mysteries of the Ancient Moon," JICSBS, Spring 2006, pp. 31-32. It is now accepted that bottles of this type bearing either the Qianlong reign mark or the Guyue Xuan hallmark date from these years.

Yangzhou enamels are thinner and applied in a more painterly manner than those on wares executed by the Beijing workshops. An enameled glass snuff bottle painted in a similar palette and in a comparable style, with both the Qianlong and Guyue Xuan marks common to the Yangzhou group, formerly from the Meriem Collection, was sold in these rooms, 19 September 2007, lot 610.

The scene with the butterfly and the hibiscus suggests longevity, since the sound for the character butterfly, die, sounds the same as that for septuagenarian or octogenarian. The hibiscus, or mallow, follows the suns path during the day, representing loyalty to the Emperor. The decoration on the other side, with its katydid and chrysanthemums, evokes the delights of autumn.

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