Bottle ID: 00153

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PORCELAIN, ENAMELED FAMILLE VERTE, CRICKETS

Date: 1821-1850

Height: 58 mm

Porcelain, hard-paste, of rounded bulbous form, tapering to a slightly concave base, decorated in the famille verte palette, with on one side a cricket perched on an open wicker cricket-cage, its lid to one side; the reverse with a similar cricket; the base with an iron-red four character Daoguang nian zhi mark in seal script and of the period.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Jingdezhen.

Similar Examples:

Lawrence, Clare. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 192-193, no. 90.154.
Masterpieces of Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1976, p. 164, no. 167.
Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol 47, Beijing, 2003, p. 229, no. 351.
Hui, Humphrey K. F. and Christopher C. H. Sin. An Imperial Qing Tradition - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Humphrey K. F. Hui and Christopher C. H. Sin, 1994, p. 21, no. 11.
Sotheby's, New York, September 14, 2010, lot 30, The Joe Grimberg Collection.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
J.W.A. International, Inc.

Exhibited:
 

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

Published:

The Comstock Review. Spring/Summer 2020. Front cover and page 91

The design of a grasshopper or katydid was one of the most popular on porcelain snuff bottles of the Daoguang period and later. The puns involved in the words for katydids, crickets and grasshoppers fall into two camps. The classic meaning would be to convey the wish for many sons, for example 'May your children be a numerous as grasshoppers'. A second meaning relates to the expression 'To be loyal to one's country'. This was particularlyt apt during the Daoguang period as corruption abounded within the Court, whilst political unrest was sweeping the country. The cricket, specifically, was known for its fighting skills and was popular at every level of society. The strongest fighting crickets were traded for large amounts of money and were known for their courage and stamina.

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