21.3.702 Around the Gourd Colourless glaze on cobalt pigment on beige porcelain; of flattened double-gourd form, the upper bulb waisted to form a third bulge, with a cylindrical neck, concave lip, wide mouth and recessed, flat rectangular foot surrounded by a protruding, flared, rectangular flat footrim; painted with a continuous design of two four-clawed dragons, one flying amidst flames and formalized clouds, the other rising from formalized waves around the base, a flaming pearl above the beast in the sky, the neck with three bats, framed with a single blue line around the neck and a double blue line around the base, the glaze crackled, the lip and foot glazed, the interior unglazed Jingde zhen, 1780-1820 Height: 8.45 cm Mouth/lip: .62/1.1 cm Stopper: glass, carved with a coiled chi dragon Provenance: Jin Hing Co., Los Angeles, September 2007 The unglazed interior on this extremely unusual blue and white bottle suggests an early date, probably from the Jiaqing period, but possibly even before (see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 6. The Arts of the Fire), where this type of porcelain, erroneously called ‘soft-paste’, is also discussed. The four-clawed dragons indicate a bottle made for an ennobled commoner rather than a member of the Imperial family.