Pair of Famille-Rose/Enameled Porcelain Snuff Bottles with Domestic Genre Scenes

Object/Artifact

-

The Curio Cabinet Collection

Name/Title

Pair of Famille-Rose/Enameled Porcelain Snuff Bottles with Domestic Genre Scenes

Entry/Object ID

SB3501

Description

Pair of Chinese glazed porcelain snuff bottles of tall cylindrical form, each with rounded shoulder, short waisted neck, everted lip and recessed circular base. The bottles are individually hand-painted or hand-finished in black and brown linework with colored overglaze enamels in blue, green, yellow and reddish-orange, forming complementary continuous genre scenes of Chinese domestic and village life. Figures of adults and children are depicted among modest architecture, trees, household vessels and implements, including scenes of figures gathered around large containers or vessels. The compositions wrap around the cylindrical bodies and appear to have been conceived as companion pieces rather than duplicate designs. Each bottle bears a square reddish-brown stylized seal within the exterior decoration and a related square mark on the recessed base. Both original stoppers are absent, and one neck appears to retain remnants of an earlier cork or stopper fitting.

Category

Chinese snuff bottle

Made/Created

Artist

Maker presently unidentified

Time Period

20th Century

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Continent

Asia

Culture/Tribe

Chinese

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Each bottle bears a hand-painted square reddish-brown/iron-red seal-style mark within the exterior pictorial decoration and a related mark on the recessed base. Comparison of all four examples indicates that they almost certainly represent the same underlying two-part or highly stylized compound mark, individually rendered by brush rather than mechanically stamped or transfer-printed. The prominent right-hand component incorporates a form resembling 子, although a definitive character transcription cannot presently be established. The repeated placement within the pictorial compositions and on the bases suggests an artist/decorator, workshop, or art-name mark rather than a conventional reign mark.

Dimensions

Dimension Description

First bottle

Height

3 in

Diameter

1-5/16 in

Weight

59 g

Dimension Description

Second bottle

Height

3 in

Diameter

1-5/16 in

Weight

53 g

Accessories

Accessory

Wooden base

Material

Porcelain

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Acquisition

Acquisition Method

Purchase