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Bottle ID: 250
OVERGLAZED, PINK WITH DRAGON
Date: 1770-1800
Height: mm
Porcelain, of cylindrical form with an everted mouth, and with a recessed circular foot, decorated over the transparent glaze using an overglaze pink (ruby) enamel, with a continuous design of a scaly five-clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl amidst cloud scrolls, a further five-clawed dragon rising from the formalized waves which encircle the base of the bottle.
Imperial; attributed to Imperial kilns, Jingde Zhen.
Similar Examples:
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, p. 368, no. 214.
Butterfield and Butterfield, San Francisco, November 7, 1999, lot 969.
Zhongguo Biyanhu Zhenshang [Gems of Chinese Snuff Bottles] no. 125.
Provenance:
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Ian Hardy, UK
This bottle, which is one of the best examples of its type, represents a very rare group of overglaze ruby enamel porcelain bottles. The ruby enamel is very delicate and finely executed. Other published examples do not have the subject matter of dragons which fits in so well with other porcelains of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. A similar example which uses two colours from the famille rose palette is in the J & J collection (no. 214) where the authors cite another two examples which use ruby enamel. The J & J example is slightly different in decoration but with the same imperial subject matter.