Snuff Bottle 9 Quails

QING PERIOD 1644 to 1911

A MAGNIFICENT NINE QUAIL 珐琅彩 FALANGCAI SNUFF BOTTLE

The bottle of flattened spherical form.
Superbly painted with the finest of details, seven quails feeding among the grasses, seated on rockery.
A quail wings outspread flying above, another its wings lifting back about to land
Growing around blue and yellow asters, pale pink blossoms, leafy stems and buds.
A tranquil lake behind, a jutting promontory.
All set against a background of varying shades of blue.

The collar comprising of a green band with curlicues, a white band, a dark blue band carrying inverted ruyi heads in pale blue and puce, curlicues against a yellow ground star pointed border.
The foot decorated with alternating ruyi heads in blue and white, puce and white all joined with yellow and tan links.
A four character Qianlong Period Mark in cobalt against a white ground under.

An absolute Miniature Masterpiece.
This superb bottle is comparable in quality to those bottles produced in the Imperial Workshops of the Imperial Palace, 造 辦 處 Zaobanchu .

Formerly the property of a Japanese collector

Condition: Excellent.
No original cap.

A modern gold metal colour filigreed stopper is offered.

Refer Large Images for details, quality and condition, they also form the description.
Depending on your computer monitor / phone / etc colour may vary to actual.

Dimensions are maximum measurements

Height about: 5.6 cm
Width about: 4.6 cm
A$4,000

This is an auspicious bottle, that provides a rebus , or visual pun.
The word for Quail in Chinese is "an" it is also a homophone for peace.
Nine in Chinese is 'jiu", pronounced the same as a word meaning "for a long time".
The nine quails on this bottle are a wish for "Long Lasting Peace"

Similar Bottles:
Christies London UK. 18 June 2002 Lot 98
The Christie's bottle is virtually identical to this.
Sold 45,410 GBP

Sotheby's Hong Kong Lot # 1813 (Unable to find Sale # . Auction date)
The Sotheby's bottle is virtually identical to this.
Estimated price was : 1,500,000 HKD

Enamel snuff bottles painted with European scenes were a favourite of the Chinese Court and Chinese collectors in the Qing Period 1644 to 1911.
Snuff bottles were in great demand by western collectors starting in the 19th century and still are.
Snuff bottles with European style artworks were normally based on prints and books transported to China by travellers.
The demand for Chinese art and antiques exploded when the first appropriated artworks taken from the Summer Palace made their way back to England France etc.
Considered by all the major experts such as Bob C. Stevens (the Collectors Book of Snuff Bottlers 1976) and the major famous collections, such as Guo'an. Bloch. Meriem. J & J. to name a few.
The finest of all snuff bottles are those that are enamelled on copper, brass, glass, gold.
The art of enamelling was introduced to the Chinese Court in the Kangxi era 1654 to 1722, by the Jesuit Guiseppe Castiglione (Lan Shining).