Bottle ID: 156

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MOLDED AND PAINTED WITH FAMILLE ROSE VESSELS AND FLOWERS

Date: 1800-1850

Height: 68 mm

Porcelain, of rounded flattened form, molded and appliquéd, decorated in famille rose enamels with bronze vessels holding flowers, chrysanthemums and prunus blossom; the sides with applied mock mask and ring handles, the neck and foot with borders of acanthus leaves and flowers, reserved against an incised diaper patterned ground, the base with a four-character Qianlong nianzhi mark.

Similar Examples:

None found.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd.

Published:

Chinese Snuff Bottles: Hong Kong Museum of Art, 15 Oct. - 26 Nov. 1977, p. 58, no. 109

Despite being manufactured in the nineteenth century, this bottle retains a delicacy and fineness that is clearly missing in many of its counterparts. It is not only the delicate strokes of the famille rose enameling that makes this bottle appealing but also the integrity of a complex process of manufacturing. In a bottle of this ilk, there are many points of potential failure in the working process from the making and incising of the body, the application and fine carving of the molded parts, the firing, the enamel decoration to the writing of the mark. In style it is reminiscent of the sedan chair vases that were made at the Imperial Factory, from which subsequent prototypes of snuff bottles were produced under Tang Ying, the Supervisor of the Imperial Kilns, as early as 1743. Despite the fact that this was made outside the Imperial Kilns, it shows the skill and virtuosity of the potters during the nineteenth century.

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