172 - A ‘FAMILLE-ROSE’ PORCELAIN ‘THIRTY MAGPIES’ SNUFF BOTTLE GUI TING, JINGDEZHEN, 1821-1850

A ‘FAMILLE-ROSE’ PORCELAIN ‘THIRTY MAGPIES’ SNUFF BOTTLE GUI TING, JINGDEZHEN, 1821-1850 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of rounded rectangular form with a cylindrical neck, convex lip and recessed flat oval foot surrounded by a protruding rounded foot rim; painted with a continuous scene of thirty magpies in a blossoming prunus tree, the foot inscribed with four characters in iron-red, Gui Ting shou zhi (hand-made by Gui Ting) 桂亭手製 Height: 5.8cm Provenance: Georgia Roode, Los Angeles, California The Neal W. and Frances R. Hunter Collection Sotheby’s, New York, 15 September 1998, lot 157 Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 25th September 1998, (a copy of the invoice available) This is an extremely rare example of a porcelain bottle signed by an individual maker rather than with a reign mark, although in this case we can be certain as to the period of the bottle since an identical bottle in form and decoration, with every bird similarly located and painted in every case, is in the Carl Barron Collection which bears an Imperial Daoguang mark, suggesting that Gui was one of the enamellers at the Imperial factory during the Daoguang period who painted a bottle for himself at some stage. Apart from the rarity of the signature, the painting here is exquisite and of an unusually high standard artistically for what was essentially a decorative art form by the Daoguang period, nor is this simply the case with the one he made for himself, the Barron example is also very well painted The story of the thirty magpies is a well-known snuff-bottle confidence trick recorded by Zhao Zhiqian in the 1860s, which inspired the manufacture of a number of bottles with thirty magpies on them (see Richard John Lynn, ‘Research Done during Spare Time into the Realm of Yong Lu, God of the Nose: The Yonglu xianjie of Zhao Zhiqian,’ JICSBS, Autumn 1991, p. 20.) Ω This Lot was imported outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission scheme. 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer’ price and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium’. If proof of export outside of the UK can be provided for this item within 3 months of the sale date, then the VAT can be refunded. Please contact us for further details and shipping advice