AN UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE MOLDED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE

JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)

Details

AN UNUSUAL FAMILLE ROSE MOLDED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
JIAQING PERIOD (1796-1820)
Crisply molded with a continuous scene illustrating the story Caochuan jiejian ('Grass Boat Borrows Arrows'), from the epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with General Cao Cao depicted on the ramparts of the city wall surrounded by archers, the reverse with Zhuge Liang at the prow of a boat amidst other boats with straw roofs shot with arrows, the details finely picked out in bright famille rose enamels, stopper
3 in. (7.7 cm.) high

Lot Essay

The scene tells the story of the battle between the historical figure, Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD) and General Cao Cao (155-220 AD). Needing arrows for warfare, Zhuge Liang devised a plan to send a fleet of straw-roofed boats in a dummy attack against the forces of General Cao Cao. As planned, General Cao Cao's soldiers fired massive salvoes of arrows upon the boats, which were then collected by his foes and later reused against him.

A Jiaqing-marked bottle molded with this exact design is in the Princeton University Art Museum, and illustrated by M.C. Hughes, The Blair Bequest: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, 2002, p. 190, no. 247.

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