Lot 79
Treasury 6, no. 1144 (‘Auspicious Objects’)
HK$68,750

Famille rose enamels on translucent white glass; with a flat lip and protruding flat foot; painted on each main side with a series of auspicious objects (on one side a perforated natural rock sculpture, a jardinière with a double-headed lingzhi growing beside acorus grass, a gu-beaker with a spray of chrysanthemum in it, a branch with two pomegranates, a tangerine, two apples, and a Buddha’s hand citron, while on the other side a vase with loose ring-handles containing a branch of hollyhock and long blades of the sweet flag, two further containers, one a jardinière on a stand, the other probably inspired by an ancient bronze vessel, both containing acorus grass, a basket of loquats, two radishes, and four water chestnuts); the foot inscribed in faint iron-red seal script Qianlong nian zhi 乾隆年製 (‘Made in the Qianlong era’)
Attributable to Yangzhou, 1775–1799
Height: 6 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.69/1.59 cm
Stopper: tourmaline; glass collar

Provenance:
Christie’s, South Kensington, 30 March 2000, lot 51  
Robert Hall (2000)

Published:
Treasury 6, no. 1144

This is one of the rarer subjects from Yangzhou enamellers, made particularly notable by the inclusion of the distinctive rock sculpture (although one other is recorded: Sotheby’s, New York, 17 March 1997, lot 72). It was not yet a familiar subject on snuff bottles, although a century later Zhou Leyuan made it one of the most popular subjects for inside-painted snuff bottles of the Beijing School, and it was common in earlier Qing painting, appearing also in other arts.

The heavy sepia colouring of the rock gives one side a distinctive air, but the enamelling style is otherwise typical of the classic Yangzhou wares, with thin enamels and a linear, painterly style with everything outlined in thin greyish-black.

This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.