Bottle ID: 360

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MOLDED BUDDHIST LION AND CUB

Date: 1790-1820

Height: 73 mm

Porcelain with famille rose and iron-red enamels with gilding on a glaze; molded in the form of a seated Buddhist lion holding a cub and a brocaded-ball between its paws, and set on a small, convex oval foot with a rounded rim; decorated in polychrome enamels with one beast in blue enamel, with green, iron-red, white and black detailing, the other in green with pink and black detailing, the brocaded ball and the foot in iron-red, the former with gilt detail.
Probably Imperial, attributed to the Jingde Zhen Imperial kilns.

Similar Examples:

None found.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.
The Ko Collection (881/S3, acquired Shanghai, 1930/31)

Buddhist lions seemed to have been popular subject matters on porcelain snuff bottles of all forms, particularly in the Jiaqing and Daoguang periods. The preceding Qianlong Emperor was a devout Buddhist as were his predecessors and there were many examples of Buddhist lions at the Court from the stately but fierce guardians of the temples to the smaller objects for the scholars' desks. They were generally depicted in pairs, the male with a brocade ball and the female with her pup. However variations on this abound with female Buddhist lions depicted with pups chasing brocade balls. Hence the combination on this porcelain bottle is not unusual with the lion being accompanied by both its pup and a ball. Whist this bottle is painted with the most common color combination, there is also the same form executed in yellow and green tones, and also in a soft paste with a transparent glazed but undecorated form.

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