Reticulated Porcelain Snuff Bottle with Landscape and Ouyang Xiu Poem
Name/Title
Reticulated Porcelain Snuff Bottle with Landscape and Ouyang Xiu PoemEntry/Object ID
SB3603Description
Chinese porcelain snuff bottle of rounded form, raised on a short spreading foot and fitted with a coordinating blue-and-white porcelain stopper. The body is elaborately decorated in underglaze blue, iron red, and polychrome enamels and incorporates a deliberately pierced reticulated side panel with five openings. The precise internal construction behind the reticulation remains to be determined; a double-wall or separate inner-reservoir construction is possible but cannot yet be confirmed from the available photographs. One principal face is painted with a finely detailed classical Chinese landscape depicting mountainous terrain, water, trees, a pavilion or architectural retreat, and small human figures. The opposite face bears an extensive calligraphic inscription accompanied by iron-red seal-form marks. The inscription reproduces the complete third quatrain of Ouyang Xiu's (歐陽修, 1007–1072) Northern Song poem cycle *Fengle Pavilion Spring Excursion* (豐樂亭遊春三首): 紅樹青山日欲斜 長郊草色綠無涯 遊人不管春將老 來往亭前踏落花 The poem may be translated: "Red-blossomed trees and green hills—the sun is sinking; across the broad countryside, green grass stretches without end. The springtime visitors pay no heed that spring is growing old; coming and going before the pavilion, they tread upon the fallen flowers." The landscape and inscription appear intentionally paired, combining painting, poetry, and calligraphy in the Chinese literati tradition rather than functioning as unrelated decorative motifs. The landscape may therefore be understood as an evocation or illustration of the spring excursion described in Ouyang Xiu's poem. Iron-red seal-form marks accompany the inscription. Their precise readings remain unresolved from the available photographs and they should not presently be interpreted as authenticated artist or workshop signatures. They may function as conventional literati-style signature or decorative seals. The recessed underside bears a four-character underglaze-blue inscription read as **康熙年製 (Kangxi nian zhi), "Made during the Kangxi reign."** The mark is arranged in the conventional two-column format. It is considered **apocryphal and should not be interpreted as evidence that the bottle was manufactured during the Kangxi reign (1662–1722)**. Four-character Kangxi marks were employed on later archaizing and revival wares, and the bottle's overall characteristics presently favor a later date. The mark is nevertheless significant to the object's decorative program, adding a deliberate reference to earlier Qing porcelain traditions alongside the much earlier Northern Song literary reference represented by Ouyang Xiu's poem. Decorative borders at the shoulder, neck, foot, and reticulated panel employ underglaze-blue patterns with iron-red accents, creating a deliberately antiquarian appearance. Taken together, the classical landscape, complete Song-dynasty poem, calligraphy, red seals, reticulated construction, and apocryphal Kangxi mark indicate a comparatively ambitious object consciously drawing upon several traditions of earlier Chinese art.Category
Chinese snuff bottle
Made/Created
Artist
Maker presently unidentifiedTime Period
20th CenturyEthnography
Cultural Region
Continent
AsiaCulture/Tribe
Chinese