Bottle ID: 179

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BLUE AND RED UNDERGLAZE WITH FISHERMAN

Date: 1800-1850

Height: 78 mm

Porcelain with a transparent glaze on cobalt and copper oxide, of cylindrical form, with an everted mouth, and recessed cylindrical foot, decorated in underglaze blue and red with continuous scene of a man fishing by the river, seated beneath a pine tree beside a rock.

Similar Examples:

Kleiner, Robert. In Search of a Dragon: Underglaze-Blue and White Porcelain Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Joseph Baruch Silver, 2007, p. 73, no. 47, and p. 74, no. 48.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Clare Lawrence Private Collection

At first glance this bottle appears to be very similar to the vast amounts of underglaze blue and red porcelain bottles available even today. It was certainly made alongside its contemporaries in the first half of the nineteenth century. The blue tinged glaze and heavy potting indicate a Daoguang period date for its manufacture. A close inspection of the bottle raises it above the average standard of its day however; the painting is surprisingly fine with a deliberate combination of abstract shading and detailed work using the cobalt blue tone. Only the pine needles are picked out in underglaze red. Under the glaze the rock is incised with anhua decoration, a rare feature on porcelain bottles but even rarer in combination with underglaze blue and red.

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