Lot Essay
For an extensive discussion of the Imperial Palace enamel workshops in Beijing see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, pp. 268-295. Of the many examples illustrated, no. 173, p. 281, probably comes closest in style, particularly the European subject, which suggests they might even be from the same hand
Another bottle of octagonal shape sold in these rooms December 3, 1992, lot 428, also bears close comparison. The treatment of the ladies' hair, in both cases lightly blowing in a breeze, and the backdrop of neatly stippled sky and yellow-edged green hedges also suggests the same hand. The gilt-copper stoppers in all three cases seem very similar
For a small, rounded rectangular bottle with European ladies on the broad sides and similar pink landscape panels on the narrow sides see Ibid., p. 279, no. 172, where the authors state, "The ruby vignettes painted in the side panels are taken directly from imported enamel panels. A small group of European enamel panels converted into boxes and covers during the Qianlong period, apparently in the Palace workshops, is known, and one of these has ruby enameled panels on a white ground. The ruby and white vignettes were common to highly Imperial production in the enameling workshops of the Beijing Palace, whether on metal, glass or porcelain, and were also echoed in ceramics at the Imperial porcelain works at Jingdezhen"
For other examples of ruby enamel painting on copper refer to Ibid., no. 178, and for examples on glass, no. 185 and 186. The first, no. 185, is superbly painted in pale enamels and the pink landscape vignettes set in a square panel on the side with unusually tall curving European rooflines and simply annotated windows could easily be from the same hand or someone following a very similar design. Of all Imperial bottles recorded, the lady and child depicted on that glass bottle bear the closest comparison to the current example. It is tempting to suggest they represent the same sitter, though more likely the subject was the product of the same artist's imagination
For another example, with similar figures, see Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, Catalogue no. 14, p. 84
Another bottle of octagonal shape sold in these rooms December 3, 1992, lot 428, also bears close comparison. The treatment of the ladies' hair, in both cases lightly blowing in a breeze, and the backdrop of neatly stippled sky and yellow-edged green hedges also suggests the same hand. The gilt-copper stoppers in all three cases seem very similar
For a small, rounded rectangular bottle with European ladies on the broad sides and similar pink landscape panels on the narrow sides see Ibid., p. 279, no. 172, where the authors state, "The ruby vignettes painted in the side panels are taken directly from imported enamel panels. A small group of European enamel panels converted into boxes and covers during the Qianlong period, apparently in the Palace workshops, is known, and one of these has ruby enameled panels on a white ground. The ruby and white vignettes were common to highly Imperial production in the enameling workshops of the Beijing Palace, whether on metal, glass or porcelain, and were also echoed in ceramics at the Imperial porcelain works at Jingdezhen"
For other examples of ruby enamel painting on copper refer to Ibid., no. 178, and for examples on glass, no. 185 and 186. The first, no. 185, is superbly painted in pale enamels and the pink landscape vignettes set in a square panel on the side with unusually tall curving European rooflines and simply annotated windows could easily be from the same hand or someone following a very similar design. Of all Imperial bottles recorded, the lady and child depicted on that glass bottle bear the closest comparison to the current example. It is tempting to suggest they represent the same sitter, though more likely the subject was the product of the same artist's imagination
For another example, with similar figures, see Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, Catalogue no. 14, p. 84