IMPERIAL, PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, QIANLONG BLUE ENAMEL FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD, 1736-1770

Details

**AN EXQUISITE AND VERY RARE BEIJING ENAMEL SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, QIANLONG BLUE ENAMEL FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD, 1736-1770
Of compressed ovoid form, finely enameled with a continuous design of a pair of pheasants on a rocky outcrop amidst blossoming peonies, aster and a flowering magnolia tree, all between stylized floral and ruyi borders at the neck and around the base, gilt-bronze stopper, possibly original
1 15/16 in. (4.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Gerry Mack (New York, 1978)

Literature

Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 3, p. 48, plate V and p. 49, fig. 54 and p. 64, fig. 94
JICSBS, September 1980, front cover
100 Selected Chinese Snuff Bottles from the J & J Collection, no. 40
J & J poster
JICSBS, Autumn 1989, front cover
Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, vol. 1, no. 177
The Art of Chinese Snuff Bottle, Poly Art Museum, p. 65
Asian Art, October 2003, p. 16, fig. 4

Exhibited

Christie's, London, October 1987
Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

The combination of peonies and white magnolias (yutang fugui) conveys a wish for 'wealth and rank in the jade hall'. In this case, 'jade hall' is a general name for the elegant studio of a member of the influential minority.

This extraordinary bottle displays a supreme example of a Chinese bird and flower subject from the Palace Workshops. While the European influence of illusionist shading can be found in the flowers and pair of birds, this bottle owes more to the Chinese painting tradition in the energetic and confident brushwork seen in the best of Chinese paintings. Every line is exciting and assured.

A very similar Qianlong-marked enamel on copper bottle painted with a pair of phoenixes on a rocky outcrop amidst peonies and asters is in the Denis Low Collection and illustrated by D. S. K. Low, More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, pp. 2-3, no. 1. Another Qianlong-marked example decorated with a pair of pheasants is in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, p. 95, no. 146. Compare, also, the Qianlong-marked porcelain bottle vase painted with a closely related subject-matter of paired birds, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 October 2005, lot 188.

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