AN IMPERIAL CANTON ENAMEL 'BATS AND FLOWERS' SNUFF BOTTLE MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG

with a flat lip and a protruding, slightly concave foot surrounded by a flattened footrim, painted in famille-rose enamels with a formalized design repeated on each main side of a circular shou character in blue seal script with a bat above it, its inner wings terminating in five formalized lingzhi, surrounded by a scrolling floral design comprising a formalized lotus flanked by highly stylized camellias and buds, the foot inscribed with the four-character reign mark in brownish-black enamel, the interior covered with a patchy white enamel, the interior of the neck with an additional, metal lining below the lip, all exposed metal gilt; the gold stopper chased with a formalised floral design

Sotheby's New York, 6th April 1990, lot 295.
Collection of Joseph Baruch Silver.
Clare Lawrence, London.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., 1992.

Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, The British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 18.
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. 1130.

The gilding is mostly worn and there are some typical minor scratches from use. Otherwise the snuff bottle is in very good condition. The actual colours are consistent with the catalogue illustration, if not a little bit warmer.
"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."

The extraordinary quality of Yongzheng Canton production for the court is exemplified here, with masterly painting coupled with faultless technical perfection. The surface is miraculously flat and even, free of flaws, and every colour has fired to perfection, which was rarely possible at Beijing at the time. Technically, painted enamels on metal in China do not get any better than this.

One other feature that demonstrates the bottle's superior quality at the time it was made is the inner metal neck, which has been gilded as heavily as the rest of the exposed metalwork. This metal inner neck is sometimes found on snuff bottles, but on the majority of Beijing wares was usually quite short, extending no more than a millimetre or two inside the bottle, whereas here it is a liner covering the entire inner neck to a depth of half a centimetre. This custom began at the palace with such bottles as another example from the Bloch collection, sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 28th November 2011, lot 166, which has a deep inner neck liner, and it is possible that this Beijing feature was copied in the south at Canton.