Bottle ID: 00327

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PORCELAIN, ENAMELED FAMILLE ROSE, BATS & SCROLLING CLOUDS

Date: 1874-1908

Height: 53 mm

Porcelain, of rounded bulbous teardrop form, decorated with a continous design of eighteen bats in iron-red enamel flying amongst scrolling clouds in famille rose enamels, the base with a circle of five bats surrounding a Qianlong nianzhi mark in seal script.

Attributed to Jingde Zhen.

Similar Examples:

Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., London, October 9, 1974, lot 34, The Ko Family Collection, Part V.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottles - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, p. 382, no. 224.
Hughes, Michael C. The Blair Bequest - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum, 2002, p. 170, no. 211.
Christie's, South Kensington, November 14, 2002, lot 404.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Sotheby's, New York, March 17, 1997, lot 409
The Mid-Western Collection

Exhibited:
 

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

Initially thought to be Qianlong mark and period because of the combination of form and decoration, it is clear that this group of bottles is more likely to be from the Guangxu period, late in the nineteenth century when the Imperial Kilns became active under the direction of Cixi, the Empress Dowager. The style of earlier Imperial wares began to be copied with some success. This group of bottles is taken from large Palace vases of the same form with similar decoration, some of which survive with Guangxu nianzhi marks on the bases helping to date the snuff bottles to the correct period.

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