A MOLDED FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN ‘LUOYANG BRIDGE’ SNUFF BOTTLE, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

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A MOLDED FAMILLE ROSE ENAMELED PORCELAIN ‘LUOYANG BRIDGE’ SNUFF BOTTLE, JINGDEZHEN KILNS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY China, circa 1800-1830. Of spade form rising from an oval foot to a gently waisted neck with gilt lip, molded in crisp relief with a continuous figural scene featuring a lady and two men on a boat below a nobleman and servant crossing a bridge, framed to the narrow side by an immortal that arrives on scrolling clouds. The scene wraps around the other side where four dancers perform with swords, spears, and other instruments, all backed by a wavy pattern and accentuated in vibrant enamels, iron-red, and gilt. The recessed base with an apocryphal four-character Qianlong nianzhi mark in iron-red. Stopper: Rose quartz stopper Dimensions: Height including stopper 67 mm. Diameter neck 15 mm and mouth 6 mm. The present snuff bottle likely depicts the legend of the Luoyang bridge. Cai Xiang, a Northern Song calligrapher and prefect of Quanzhou, undertook the construction of the bridge. Before his birth, Cai’s mother survived a storm thanks to a prophecy that only a top scholar surnamed Cai could avert disaster, inspiring her to vow that her son would build a bridge to help others. Later, as prefect, Cai faced funding challenges until Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared in disguise. The Bodhisattva descended in disguise as a maiden in a lotus boat, inviting the wealthy to cast gold and silver at her in hopes of winning her hand. With additional divine intervention from Lü Dongbin who mischievously aided a poor youth Weituo: under his spell a copper coin struck the hem of Guanyin’s robe. Caught off guard by the immortal’s trick, she transformed Weituo into a statue at Mount Putuo, opposite her own image. The amassed wealth allowed Cai Xiang to complete the bridge. The molding of porcelain was standard practice at Jingdezhen long before the snuff-bottle period. Molding allows for easy mass production and is well suited to the manufacture of porcelain. Instead of forming or decorating each individual piece, a carver uses a single mold, from which many identical pieces can be turned out. The use of complex molds for snuff bottles, which included extensive relief decoration and dictated the entire form of the bottle, flourished as an art from the late Qianlong period well into the Jiaqing and Daoguang reigns. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Christie’s New York, 30 March 2005, lot 97 Price: USD 7,200 or approx. EUR 11,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the similar colors of the enamel palette and the molded, figural subject. Note the size (7.7 cm)

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