A MOULDED ENAMELLED PORCELAIN 'DONGFANG SHUO' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Neal W. and Frances R. Hunter.
Sotheby’s New York, 15th September 1998, lot 168.
Robert Hall, 2001.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., 2001.

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. 1400.

Good condition.
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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."

This splendid piece is one instance of a small group of Dongfang Shuo bottles, several versions of which are listed the commentary to this bottle in Treasury 6. An interesting design detail of the model is the circular foot that appears on each of them. It is more common with figure subjects for the designer to shape the foot mimetically as part of the clothing or feet of the person, at least as seen from the side (not from below).

Biscuit details are a feature of the entire group. Although some are partially enamelled, the term is used with some caution here. These enamels are all of the same sort of glassy coating that is usually called glaze when used as an overall covering. Still, when they are used in this manner it seems more appropriate to call them enamels. Whatever term is used, there is no intervening glaze, and the covering goes directly onto the biscuit porcelain. In that respect, this particular bottle is somewhat similar to a large range of Kangxi export wares that are decorated on the biscuit with a simple palette of colours; they are usually characterized as being enamelled on the biscuit.

The method of construction here is uncertain. There is no indication on the inside of a two-part mould, and the foot seems to have been added separately, suggesting that it was made in the same basic manner as other non-compressed nineteenth-century forms, although it could still have been pressed into a mould to form the basic shape. What separates this group from mid-Qing moulded porcelain bottles is that there is obviously more carving involved than moulding. These wares are more closely related to the carved porcelains from the Daoguang period onwards characterized by fine carving, occasional signatures, and the occasional use of pastel glazes. It seems reasonable to assume that the group evolved from the two earlier trends of moulding and carving and probably dates from the mid- to late nineteenth century.

Dongfang Shuo (154 – 93 BC) was an eminent man of letters. He lived during the Western Han period and acquired a reputation for his humour and jests while serving at the court of Emperor Wudi (r. 140–87 BC). One of the many legends about him claims that the peaches in the orchard of Xiwangmu 西王母 (Queen Mother of the West) ripened every three thousand years and Dongfang Shuo had thrice stolen these precious fruit. Images of him are therefore invested with the hope for longevity. Dongfang Shuo is more often represented as an elderly man with a long beard, but the peaches identify him here.