Bottle ID: 383

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BLUE UNDERGLAZE, WHITE INVISIBLE DRAGON

Date: 1820-1887

Height: 85 mm

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Porcelain with a transparent glaze on underglaze cobalt blue; of elongated cylindrical form with a flared neck, flat mouth and recessed circular foot; the body incised beneath the glaze with a five-clawed Imperial dragon chasing a flaming pearl amidst flying flames, between underglaze blue borders at base and shoulders consisting of a lozenge-form diaper design within blue lines, the foot and interior glazed.

Imperial, Imperial kilns Jingde Zhen.

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. 33, no. 13.
Kleiner, Robert W. L. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of John Ault, 1990, p. 92, no. 157.
Christie's, New York, September 19, 2007, lot 687, The Meriem Collection.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

There is a series of cylindrical dragon bottles made for the Court from the late 18^th century onwards which imitate in miniature the pillars of temples and audience halls wrapped with pillar rugs to create a continuous design of a dragon chasing a flaming pearl. They seem to represent among the finest of all early blue and white porcelain snuff bottles. There are also versions known in white porcelain, with incising and simply the eyes of the dragons in underglaze blue. This example is apparently a unique version where the dragon is in anhua (‘secret painting’) technique. The porcelain body is first incised with the design which is then filled with more of the glaze covering because of the depth of incision, creating a pale aquamarine-lined drawing where the glaze thickens.

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