A FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN 'MONKEYS' SNUFF BOTTLE

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

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN 'MONKEYS' SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, DAOGUANG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON RED AND OF THE PERIOD (1821-1850)
The bottle is decorated on both sides with playful adult and young monkeys. On one side two monkeys hold each other's paw while one also holds a branch and the other a flower, below a wasp. The other side depicts three monkeys, one holding a branch, and the narrow sides are decorated with blue animal mask and oblong ring handles.
2 7/16 in. (6.3 cm.) high, glass stopper

Provenance

Button Collection.
Robert Hall, London, 2003.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 3872.

Literature

Robert Hall, The Button Collection, Chinese Snuff Bottles X, London, 2003, no. 71.

Exhibited

Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.

Lot Essay

For a similar Daoguang-marked bottle with identical scenes, but lacking the mask handles found on the present example, see Xia Gengqi and Zhang Rong (ed.), Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 162, no. 165. Also see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, Volume 6, Part 3, p. 708, no. 1325, for an example that is very similar to the present bottle, along with a discussion of the symbolism.

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