AN ENAMELED GLASS BOTTLE

GUYUEXUAN MARK IN IRON RED, ATTRIBUTED TO THE YANGZHOU SCHOOL, 1770-1820

Details

AN ENAMELED GLASS BOTTLE
Guyuexuan mark in iron red, attributed to the Yangzhou School, 1770-1820
Of flattened ovoid form, the pale caramel-colored ground well painted with a continuous design of a dragonfly and bees hovering above peonies and chrysanthemums supported on tall stems with feathery leaves, stopper
2¼in. (5.7cm.) high

Provenance

Sotheby's, New York, Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Bob. C. Stevens, Part II, 26 March 1982, lot 80.

Literature

B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, p. 266, no. 952.

Lot Essay

Hugh Moss believes it likely that this distinctive group of enamels was produced for the Court from some time shortly after the construction of the Guyuexuan for the Qianlong Emperor in 1767 at some distant facility, Yangzhou being the most likely place. They are usually marked either with a pale Qianlong reign mark in iron-red seal script, typical of distant production for the Court for late in the reign, or a Guyuexuan mark. This is a rare example on a caramel-colored ground.

For another example of a Yangzhou enameled bottle in the collection of The Victoria and Albert Museum, from the Gulland Bequest of 1907, see H. White, Snuff Bottles from China, London, 1992, pl. 60, no. 2.

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