Bottle ID: 251

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PORCELAIN, BLACK AND ENAMELING WITH SPRAY OF PEONIES

Date: 1833-1850

Height: 73 mm

Porcelain, of flattened ovoid form, with a long slender neck, enameled on each side against an overglaze black ground, with a leafy floral spray of peonies; one abundant bloom enameled in shades of iron-red enamel; the reverse in shades of white and pale yellow; the base with a four character iron-red Shende tang zhi mark in regular script.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Jingde Zhen.

Similar Examples:

None found.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Emily Bryne Curtis

This very elegant bottle is interesting for a number of reasons. There are very few extant black ground porcelain snuff bottles and even less of this quality. Its scarcity may relate to the difficulty of controlling the glaze, where the design is in relief to the ground. In this example it has worked to dramatic visual effect. Closer scrutiny of the floral enamel decoration reveals a depth of shading and delicacy in the petals and leaves which is not initially apparent.

As such the bottle is worthy of its basemark – Shende Tang Zhi (made for the Hall for the Cultivation of Virtue). This is the private Imperial hallmark of the Daoguang Emperor – it was his retirement residence within the Palace and as such, the place where he died. A series of porcelain wares were made, of mostly dishes and vases, at the Imperial kilns in Jingdezhen and were sent to the Palace for use in the Shende Tang. The porcelains are, almost without exception, marked with four-character iron red marks, as is this bottle which possesses all the characteristics of Daoguang Imperial wares. This is in contrast to the few works of art and paintings with this mark which tend to have a three character mark. The four- character mark, including the last character ‘Zhi’ appears to indicate that the item was specifically made for the Shende Tang (that is to say to order) rather than made with no specific location in mind and ending up there because it came to the attention of the Emperor. The result of a commissioned piece such as this snuff bottle is that throughout its initial design and production great attention would have been paid to the fact that this was an Imperially destined piece. In the hierarchy of Imperial marks ‘Shende tang Zhi’ is highly ranked as it is a highly personalized form of Imperial identification limited to the Daoguang Emperor. It appears around 1833 and was not used after the Emperor’s death in 1850.

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