Bottle ID: 177

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BLUE UNDERGLAZE WITH EUROPEAN FIGURES

Date: 1800-1850

Height: 85 mm

Porcelain with a transparent clear glaze on cobalt blue; of cylindrical form with a waisted neck, and with an everted rounded lip and recessed circular foot; painted with a continuous scene of European figures travelling with mythical beasts in a rocky mountainous landscape beneath scrolling clouds, the neck with a band of four flying bats, the base with a line border, the foot and interior of the bottle glazed, the base with a six character mark in regular script Da Qing Yongzheng nianzhi.

Attributed to Jingde zhen.

Similar Examples:

Kleiner, Robert W. L. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of John Ault, 1990, p. 102, no. 179.
Hui, Humphrey K. F. and Christopher C. H. Sin. An Imperial Qing Tradition - Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Humphrey K. F. Hui and Christopher C. H. Sin, 1994, p. 36, no. 29.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Clare Lawrence Private Collection.

European figures occur as a decorative feature very rarely on snuff bottles, although European travellers and merchants must have been seen regularly in China by the nineteenth century, particularly at city ports and along the Silk Road. However depicting them with mythical versions of elephants and lion-like beasts seems to be a strange representation. The quality of the decoration is very good on this bottle, suggesting that it was not a whimsical fantasy painted at the end of the day by the potter but a deliberate undertaking of this unique combination of subject matter.

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