A FAMILLE ROSE EUROPEAN-SUBJECT CANTON ENAMEL BOTTLE

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE EUROPEAN-SUBJECT CANTON ENAMEL BOTTLE
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN PALE BLUE ENAMEL AND OF THE PERIOD
Of rounded oval shape, delicately painted to one side with a European lady in a blue dress with exposed breasts, a small child holding her hand before her, set in a landscape with European buildings, the sky carefully stippled in grisaille, the other side similarly painted, the lady wearing a pink dress her left arm lovingly wrapped over the childs shoulder, her right hand holding his left hand, both scenes painted within oval panels on a pale olive green ground painted with floral scrolling, flowerheads and smaller shaped panels of iron-red and yellow, the neck with a thin band of blue scrolls, a crescent shaped bruise crack to one side, stopper

Lot Essay

For another enamel bottle depicting the rare subject of a decollete lady see Christie's New York, June 4, 1994, lot 89 formerly in the Ko Family Collection. For two European-subject bottles, similar in most respects with the exception of the "decollete" depiction see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, col. pl. 2 & 5, where Kleiner states that "the three eighteenth century Emperors were all fascinated by European culture and went to great lengths to have numerous Jesuit missionaries, who were attached to the court, teach local craftsmen the techniques of enameling. European subjects were favoured, particularly a series of prettily dressed young girls,......" For other bottles of similar type in glass and enamel see Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, pp. 270-271, pl. 977 & 987 and p. 284, pl. 1026 (Favorites Among The Favored); Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, p. 3 & 6, no. 2 & 5; Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, catalogue, p. 84, pl. 14; and Hugh Moss, Victor E. Graham, Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, 1993, pp 312-314, pl. 185