A BLUE AND WHIITE PORCELAIN ‘DRAGON’ TRIPLE-GOURD FORM SNUFF BOTTLE

QING DYNASTY, 1780-1820

Details

A BLUE AND WHIITE PORCELAIN ‘DRAGON’ TRIPLE-GOURD FORM SNUFF BOTTLE
QING DYNASTY, 1780-1820
The bottle is potted in the form of a flattened triple-gourd, painted in cobalt on a crackled beige glaze with a four-clawed dragon pursuing a flaming pearl amidst clouds and another dragon rising from stylised waves. Together with a blue and white porcelain ‘dragon’ snuff dish with a Yongzheng four-character reign mark.

Bottle: 3 ¼ in. (8.4 cm.) high; glass stopper; Dish: 1 ¾ in. (4.5 cm.) diam. (2)

Provenance

Bottle: The Ko Collection, Italy
Sold at Christie’s London, 14 June 1971, lot 96
Dish: The Crane Collection, before April 2005

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Priscilla Kong

PKong@christies.com 2978 9958

Lot Essay

The unglazed interior on this extremely unusual blue and white triple-gourd (the upper bulb is waisted to form a third bulb) suggests an early date, probably from the Jiaqing period, but possibly even before. The beige biscuit and crackled glaze are of the type erroneously called ‘soft-paste’.

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