Page 17 - Bonhams Chinese Art September 2015 NY

31 Y Ф ≈ 31
two PorCElAin snuff BottlEs
The elephant late 18th century; the squirrel
Jiaqing/ Daoguang
One bottle well-modelled in a form of a
recumbent caparisoned white elephant with
an iron-red and gilt-decorated zun set atop its
back on a saddle with gilt scrolls on the edge,
porcelain stopper; the other moulded as a
squirrel perching on a grapevine enamelled
in pink, purple, iron-red and green, the body
hair and tail decorated extensively in grey
enamels, jadeite stopper.
The elephant 5cm (2in) wide; the squirrel
7.5cm (3in) high (4).

£1,000 - 1,500 32
CNY9,600 - 14,000 HK$12,000 - 18,000
33
Provenance A rEd oVErlAy glAss snuff BottlE
A European private collection, and thence by 18th/19th century
descent. Of flattened baluster form, elegantly overlaid
to each side with a sinuous chilong with
The auspicious subject of an elephant bifurcated tail, one coiled around the base
carrying a vase forms the rebus ‘taiping to form the footrim, the sides with beast
youxiang (太平有象)’, which stands for ‘When mask and long loop ring handles, all on a
there is peace, there are signs’. Compare snowstorm ground, stopper.
a related elephant example illustrated by The bottle 6.7cm (2.5/8in) high.
B.C.Stevens, The Collector’s Book of Snuff £500 - 800
Bottles, New York and Tokyo, 1976, pl.308. CNY4,800 - 7,700 HK$6,000 - 9,600
For an overlay bottle with similarly modelled
The combination of squirrel and grapes is a chilong see Sotheby’s, New York, Important
popular motif in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1 July 1985, lot 52.
particularly in snuff bottles, porcelain and
Yixing teapots, which symbolises longevity
and the wish for generations of offspring.
A similar example in the form of a squirrel
can be seen in the Snowy Peaks Collection
illustrated by R.Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles
XI: the Snowy Peaks Collection, Hong Kong,
2005, pl.40. See also a similar ‘squirrel and
grapes’ example illustrated by B.Stevens,
ibid., pl.309.
32 Y Ф
two PorCElAin ‘Buddhist lion’
snuff BottlEs
18th/19th century
Each crisply modelled in the form of a
recumbent lion, enamelled in green, yellow
and aubergine with protruding eyes, long
mane and tail, the mouth grasping a brocade
ball decorated in diaper patterns, tiger’s eye
and aventurine stoppers.
Each 7.3cm (2 7/8in) high (4).

£500 - 800
CNY4,800 - 7,700 HK$6,000 - 9,600

Provenance
A European private collection, and thence by
descent.

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