A BLUE-AND-WHITE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE

IMPERIAL, JINGDE ZHEN KILNS, GUANGXU FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1875-1908)

Details

A BLUE-AND-WHITE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, JINGDE ZHEN KILNS, GUANGXU FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1875-1908)
Of flattened spherical form with recessed oval foot surrounded by a footrim, decorated in underglaze blue with a continuous scene of mountain-backed tile-roofed buildings nestled amidst trees along the shore of a river that continues on the other main side where a boatman steers his boat towards the opposite shore where a scholar stands watching, with a band of formalized lingzhi-heads encircling the neck, the foot inscribed in underglaze-blue regular script Guangxu nianzhi (Made in the Guangxu period), carnelian stopper with silver collar
2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) high

Provenance

Hugh Moss Ltd.

Exhibited

Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, 1992.

Lot Essay

By the Guangxu period, porcelain production at Jingde Zhen was in decline, and thus the exceptional quality of the present example makes it a rarity. The shape and style of painting are reminiscent of the first half of the nineteenth century, being based on Daoguang porcelain bottles; the only feature that sets it apart is the quality of the cobalt used in the underglaze-blue decoration. This bottle demonstrates, however, that there was continued production of fine porcelain bottles till the last decades of the nineteenth century. It is also very rare to find blue-and-white snuff bottles with a Guangxu mark.

Similar painting can be seen on an iron-red-decorated Daoguang-marked snuff bottle, formerly from the J & J Collection, and sold in these rooms, 29 March 2006, lot 26.

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