The Garden

QING PERIOD 1644 to 1911

The Garden Enamel 珐琅彩 Falangcai On Copper Snuff Bottle.

The bottle of compressed spherical form, exquisitely painted with a continuous scene happening in the garden.

A gnarled pine with spreading branches, a long tailed bird with mauve breast crested head and yellow beak, faces down towards a budding and flowering bright yellow lily.
Grasses curling over, asters in shades of blue, pink, puce dotted amongst the rockery.

Two quails, stand amongst the asters, to the left a pale pink flowering rose , budded stems, a yellow butterfly.
A scene of peace and tranquillity.

The collar a band of rococo lappets in shades of yellow, blue, puce, the foot a dotted band of pale puce.
A matching enamelled stopper.

The base with a cobalt blue four character Qianlong mark against a white ground.

Formerly the property of a Japanese collector

Condition: Very good.

The cap is original

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: 5.2 cm
Width about: 4.3 cm
A$4,500

Note: A nearly identical bottle and cap to this bottle, sold at auction; Sotheby's New York. Sale N08077 1 April 2005. Lot 472. US$ 132,000
http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/fine-chinese-ceramics-works-of-art-n08077/lot.472.html

Please compare. This bottle is of equal standard to that auctioned by Sotheby's.
The provenance on the Sotheby bottle is that it was acquired in 1940 for $45 at auction.
This bottle was purchased in Japan over 47 years ago.
The former owner (now deceased) owned a large collection of Chinese Falangcai snuff bottles and other Falangcai items.

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).