DATED TO AUTUMN OF THE BINGZI YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1816

Details

AN ENAMELED STONEWARE SNUFF BOTTLE
DATED TO AUTUMN OF THE BINGZI YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO 1816
Of flattened ovoid shape, the bottle is decorated on one side with bamboo and two short inscriptions, ping an ji bao (peace and good news) and xue hong xie (written by Snow Red). The other side is inscribed with a poem and the base is enameled with two characters reading jun de (a virtuous and talented person).
2 9⁄16 in. (6.5 cm.) high, jadeite stopper, pink tourmaline finial

Provenance

Bob C. Stevens Collection, no. 327.
The Bob C. Stevens Collection of Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles, Part II; Sotheby’s New York, 26 March 1982, lot 68.
Rachelle R. Holden Collection, New York.

Literature

Arts of Asia, September-October 1973, p.43, fig. 5⁄6.
B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, no. 327.
R. Holden, Rivers and Mountains Far From the World - The Rachelle R. Holden Collection, A Personal Commentary, New York, 1994, pp. 244-245, no. 106.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The four-line poem can be translated as:

Lasting in quality like iron,
Filled always with jade filings,
Whatever you may do with it,
Its auspiciousness is known to all.

A similar bottle was sold at Sotheby's Los Angeles, Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the collection of Alice B. McReynolds, 31 October 1984, lot 12.

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