171 - A YELLOW-GLAZED AND COBALT-BLUE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE GUI TING, JINGDEZHEN, 1730-1850

A YELLOW-GLAZED AND COBALT-BLUE PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE GUI TING, JINGDEZHEN, 1730-1850 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of rounded-rectangular form with a cylindrical neck, flat lip and recessed, flat, oval foot surrounded by a protruding, convex, oval foot rim, painted with an underglaze cobalt-blue design turned brown by the covering yellow enamel, one side with two magpies looking at each other, one in the branches of a flowering prunus tree, the other on a rocky outcrop at its base where other foliage grows, and on the other with a fisherman standing on the trunk of a willow tree beside the water, with rocks nearby, leaning forwards with his rod, the foot inscribed in regular script Gui Ting shou zhi (hand-made by Gui Ting), the interior covered with 桂亭手製 a colourless glazee Height: 5.8cm Provenance: Dynasty Arts, California, October 2006 Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 20th February 2007, (a copy of the original invoice available) There is a series of yellow-enamelled, underglaze-cobalt bottle of this shape with the design of the fisherman. Some are dated to 1838 in inscriptions on the reverse. About four or five are known, suggesting at least one order of ten or twenty bottles. There is one in the Bloch Collection and one in the Barron Collection. This unique example has a second design of birds on the other side and the signature of the artist who made the bottle, or painted the design, or the kiln master. It is the only one with an individual signature. The yellow ground, however, raises the possibility of whether it might have been made at the same time as the others, and by the same kiln, as a presentation piece for the emperor. By the Daoguang period, protocols for presentations of gifts to the Court had changed considerably and individual potters from Jingdezhen appear to have been encouraged to sign their wares (this is true of the porcelain carvers Chen Guozhi and Wang Bingrong, where Imperial wares bear their names on the foot – sometimes in association with a Daoguang reign mark 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