A FINE AND VERY RARE FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN BOTTLE

QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON-RED IN A LINE AND POSSIBLY LATE IN THE PERIOD

细节

A FINE AND VERY RARE FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN BOTTLE
Qianlong four-character seal mark in iron-red in a line and possibly late in the period
Of slightly tapering rounded form, both sides with a slightly domed shaped panel framed by a fine gilded line border, one panel delicately painted with a group of flowers borne on leafy stems, the other panel finely inscribed in grisaille with an Imperial 28-character poem followed by two iron-red square seals: Qian and Long, the narrow sides and waisted neck colorfully painted with stylized flower scrolls set against a turquoise ground, stopper
2 3/8in. (6cm.) high

拍品专文

Three bottles of this design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, are illustrated by Chang Lin-sheng, Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, pp. 121 and 130. These bottles are illustrated filling the empty compartments in two boxed sets of Jiaqing famille rose bottles. Porcelain bottles of this type were made in sets, usually of ten or twenty, and were possibly commissioned for presentation to courtiers or to foreign dignitaries.

The imperial poem inscribed on this bottle also appears on a Qianlong-marked bottle formerly in the Eric Young Collection, sold Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 28 October 1993, lot 1256, and later illustrated by H. Hui and C. Sin, An Imperial Qing Tradition, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 11, no. 1, where a full translation and a discussion of the story behind it is provided.

For other Qianlong-marked famille rose bottles similarly decorated with a floral composition on one side and inscribed with an imperial poem on the reverse, see Chang Lin-sheng, ibid., p. 114, no. 74 and p. 118, nos. 81-82; Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 157, no. 160; and H. Moss, V. Graham and K. B. Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle: The J & J Collection, New York, 1993, p. 363-364, no. 210.