7 - A PORCELAIN ‘FAMILLE-VERTE’ ‘POCKET WATCH’ SNUFF BOTTLE, JINGDEZHEN, 1820- 1870

A PORCELAIN ‘FAMILLE-VERTE’ ‘POCKET WATCH’ SNUFF BOTTLE, JINGDEZHEN, 1820- 1870 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of flattened spherical form with raised circular panels on each main face surrounded by radiating pleats, painted on one side in black enamel with a European watch dial with two hands and Roman numerals, on the other with a fisherman in a sampan beside a riverbank with trees and distant mountains struck by the sun Height: 5.7cm Provenance: Alex S. Cussons Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 26th September 1996, (a copy of the invoice available) There is a series of snuff bottles of this form from the nineteenth century where the shape was clearly derived from a European fob-watch, and several of them are decorated with watches, sometimes on both sides. There are others, however, which follow the form but with purely Chinese decoration on each side. For another of similar form, with a watch face on both sides, see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Hong Kong 1995, no. 221. The use of famille verte enamels here is unusual. This is the more limited palette that evolved to its height during the Kangxi period to be replaced in the early 1700s by the famille rose palette. As a rule, once the latter was well established in all the main enamelling centres the former was only used on either fakes or wares making deliberate reference to the more ancient tradition. Presumably this falls into the latter category, since there is no question of it being from the Kangxi period, nor could it have been, since porcelain snuff bottles do not appear to have been made this early in any recognizable quantities. For another example with the same palette of this shape, although without the radial pleating, see Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, no. 212 Ω This Lot was imported from outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission regime 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer” and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium