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Lot Essay
The combination of peonies and white magnolias (yutang fugui) conveys a wish for 'wealth and rank in the jade hall'. In this case, 'jade hall' is a general name for the elegant studio of a member of the influential minority.
This extraordinary bottle displays a supreme example of a Chinese bird and flower subject from the Palace Workshops. While the European influence of illusionist shading can be found in the flowers and pair of birds, this bottle owes more to the Chinese painting tradition in the energetic and confident brushwork seen in the best of Chinese paintings. Every line is exciting and assured.
A very similar Qianlong-marked enamel on copper bottle painted with a pair of phoenixes on a rocky outcrop amidst peonies and asters is in the Denis Low Collection and illustrated by D. S. K. Low, More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 2-3, no. 1. Another Qianlong-marked example decorated with a pair of pheasants is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 47, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 95, no. 146. Compare, also, the Qianlong-marked porcelain bottle vase painted with a closely related subject-matter of paired birds, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 188.
This extraordinary bottle displays a supreme example of a Chinese bird and flower subject from the Palace Workshops. While the European influence of illusionist shading can be found in the flowers and pair of birds, this bottle owes more to the Chinese painting tradition in the energetic and confident brushwork seen in the best of Chinese paintings. Every line is exciting and assured.
A very similar Qianlong-marked enamel on copper bottle painted with a pair of phoenixes on a rocky outcrop amidst peonies and asters is in the Denis Low Collection and illustrated by D. S. K. Low, More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 2-3, no. 1. Another Qianlong-marked example decorated with a pair of pheasants is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 47, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 95, no. 146. Compare, also, the Qianlong-marked porcelain bottle vase painted with a closely related subject-matter of paired birds, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 188.