Blue-and-White Porcelain Snuff Bottle with Hundred Butterflies

Object/Artifact

-

The Curio Cabinet Collection

Name/Title

Blue-and-White Porcelain Snuff Bottle with Hundred Butterflies

Entry/Object ID

SB3614

Description

Tall cylindrical Chinese porcelain snuff bottle decorated in underglaze cobalt blue with numerous butterflies in varied attitudes against an unusually dense hand-stippled ground, with restrained muted iron-red/purplish accents. The shoulder carries contrasting floral and bamboo-like motifs within concentric blue borders. The profusion of butterflies evokes the traditional “hundred butterflies” decorative theme, an auspicious motif associated with abundant happiness, beauty, longevity and transformation.

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

Two-character underglaze-blue mark to recessed base, tentatively read 春壽 / 春寿 (Chun Shou, “Spring Longevity”), possibly an auspicious mark. Reading uncertain due to substantial diffusion and blurring of the cobalt beneath the glaze. Alternative interpretation as a maker/workshop or hall mark remains possible. The inscription does not presently support identification as a reign mark.

Dimensions

Height

3-11/16 in

Diameter

1-7/16 in

Weight

80 g

Materials

Material

Porcelain

Material Notes

With underglaze cobalt-blue decoration and muted iron-red/purplish accents

Condition

Overall Condition

Good

Acquisition

Acquisition Method

Purchase