A BLUE AND WHITE PORCELAIN ‘BOYS’ SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, DAOGUANG / XIANFENG PERIOD

with a convex lip and recessed, slightly concave circular foot surrounded by a protruding convex footrim, painted under the glaze with a continuous scene of sixteen boys, each holding a different symbolic flower or fruit, on an area surrounded by a low fence, the neck decorated with a band of formalized lingzhi, the foot inscribed in underglaze-blue regular script Zuogu (‘Imitating antiquity’); the tourmaline stopper with a gilt-silver collar

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., 1992.

Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, The British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 229.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 6, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 1374.

There are two minute chips to the footrim, otherwise the snuff bottle is in very good condition. The cabochon inset on the stopper is loose and has some bruises to its edge. The actual tone of blue is slightly less bright, more greyish compared to the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

An indication of the nineteenth century date here may be found in the mark, zuogu. This is a common phrase often used in conjunction with the name of an individual copying an ancient model, or with the reign mark of the emperor who ordered such a copy. Here, however, the phrase tells us only that an old model is being imitated in some aspect. 
The cylindrical form become popular only during the mid-Qing period. If the reference was to the nature of the decoration, then ‘ancient’ might be as far back as the fourteenth century, when underglaze decoration first became popular, and if to the design of the boys at play, then the model could be a little earlier than the Song dynasty, but more likely discoverable in the fifteenth century, when a well-known series of Chenghua blue-and-white large bowls decorated with playing children was produced.