IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, DAOGUANG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON RED AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850)

Details

**A VERY RARE ENAMELED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, DAOGUANG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON RED AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850)
Of flattened form with a convex lip and recessed, flat oval foot surrounded by a protruding footrim, painted in famille rose enamels on each side with a Pekinese dog in a garden setting, the narrow sides decorated with a border of swastika-diaper ground with three ruby bats, the neck with a band of upright leaf-shaped lappets, the foot inscribed Daoguang nian zhi ('Made in the Daoguang period') in iron-red seal script, glass stopper with copper collar
2 3/8 in. (6.03 cm.) high

Provenance

Eugene Sung, New York, 1977

Literature

Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, Vol. 1, no. 222
The Art of Chinese Snuff Bottle, Poly Art Museum, p. 90

Exhibited

Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum für 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

See lot 7 for a discussion on this motif, which was popular during the Daoguang period.

Paired animals suggest conjugal bliss. As a rule, one of the creatures is light and one dark, presumably a reference to the yin/yang principle. An example decorated with a pair of Pekinese dogs on one side and a pair of doves on the reverse is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and is illustrated in Snuff Bottles. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, p. 227, no. 348.

This bottle is especially rare because of its reference to designs from the Palace Workshops, as seen in the reserved panels against formalized grounds and the use of the neck border, which was popular during the Qianlong period. The asters were also a popular decorative motif on Palace enameled wares from the Qianlong period, suggesting that this bottle may have been made early in the Daoguang period. See also two blue-and-white snuff bottles with similar flat circular panels and diaper borders, but decorated with boys illustrated in B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, nos. 257 and 259.

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