PROBABLY IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, 1790-1810

The molding of porcelain was standard practice at Jingdezhen long before the snuff-bottle period. Molding allows for easy mass production and is well suited to the manufacture of porcelain. Instead of forming each individual piece, a carver uses a single mold from which many identical pieces can be turned out. The use of complex molds for snuff bottles, that featured extensive relief decoration and dictated the entire form of the bottle, flourished from the late Qianlong period into the Jiaqing reign.

A similar crackled cream-glazed bottle from the J & J Collection was sold in these rooms, 17 September 2008, lot 29, and another is illustrated by M. Hughes, The Blair Bequest, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum, Baltimore, 2002, p. 210, no. 285. A multi-colored enameled example is illustrated in Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles," New York, 1976, p. 281, no. 1007.
This group of Buddhist lion-form snuff bottles depict the lion grasping a brocade ball, or a lioness with cub. For a cream-glazed example of the latter form, see H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, London, 1971, p. 125. no. 288, and H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, London, 1992, pl. 114, no. 3, for a multi-colored example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.