Bottle ID: 00378

ENAMELED FAMILLE ROSE, SPINNING MAIDEN W/CLOUDS & BIRDS

Date: 1785-1799

Height: 64 mm

Porcelain, hard paste, of rounded rectangular form, with flattened sides, the shoulders tapering to an everted gilded mouth, and with a slightly concave oval foot, decorated in famille rose and iron-red enamels and gilded within oval panels, with on one side Zhinu, the spinning maiden, standing amongst scrolling clouds with four black and white birds flying around her; the other panel with her husband, the ox-herder with his ox, also surrounded by scrolling clouds surrounded by five black and white birds, totalling nine overall; the panels surrounded by scrolling clouds against an incised pale blue ground; the foot with a four character iron-red Qianlong nianzhi mark in seal script and of the period.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Jingde Zhen.

Similar Examples:

Christie, Manson & Woods, St. James's, London, June 14, 1971, lot 73, The Ko Family Collection.
Sotheby's, New York, September 19, 2007, lot 706, The Meriem Collection.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss [HK] Ltd.
The Ko Collection [Jinanfu, 1925/6]

Exhibited:
 

Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007

With its apparently correct Qianlong nianzhi mark this unique bottle appears to be an Imperial product of the last years of the Qianlong period. None other is known with this subject matter, although the bottle's form was carried on into the Jiaqing period for enameled porcelain bottles, and the quality is outstanding. This period at the end of the eighteenth century marked an revived interest in literary subjects, seen not only on bottles but also on other porcelain forms. This bottle is likely to date from the last years of the Qianlong Emperor’s life, possibly after he abdicated but while his reign mark was still used on things made under his order for the Court.