Silver and brass filigree potpourri in the form of a lotus flower with movable petals, China, Canton for export, second half of the 18th century Composed of a rounded base on which rests a large lotus leaf with a wavy border, it is surmounted by a lotus flower with twelve petals. Worked in silver filigree, the body is decorated with four cartouches with brass outlines in the rocaille style framing blue and green enamelled scrolls around flowers and an endless knot, one of the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism. A frieze of stylized brass ruyi heads, previously enameled, adorns the top of the foot and the top of the base. The foot, also in brass, shows a gadrooned pattern. The lotus leaf in silver filigree is embellished with crabs, aquatic plants and fishes in glass and polychrome enamel and the edge is decorated with small pink glass rods. Height: 12.5 cm; gross weight: 233 g Missing elements, enamel and glass cabochons. The object is placed, the petals are closed. When this one is raised, a judicious mechanism of hinges assembled on a mobile cylinder causes the opening of the lotus offering a beautiful aesthetic effect while giving access to the center of the flower where is placed a cylindrical receptacle out of brass in which were to place the scents. The collection of Catherine II of Russia, housed in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, includes the largest collection of Chinese silver filigree objects known to date and includes a pair of potpourri similar to ours. They are illustrated in the catalog of the exhibition Hermitage - Amsterdam, "Silver Wonders from the East, Filigree of the Tsars", from 27 April till 17 September 2006, Maria Menshikova, Jet Pijzel-Dommisse, organized by the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Hermitage Amsterdam 2006, n°73, pp. 87 and 120. 十八世纪下半叶 -广作外销品 - 银累丝莲花瓣贴黄铜边珐琅彩花卉吉祥结纹小瓶