A rare gilt-bronze and famille-rose turquoise-ground porcelain 'lady's-shoe' snuff box and cover Qianlong, circa 1750-1770. Photo courtesy Bonhams

Moulded in the form of a shoe with a buckle at the front, standing upright on a large heel extending to a pointed tip at the toe cap, decorated all around with floral sprays enamelled in vivid tones of red, puce, green and yellow. 9.6cm wide; 3.5cm deep; 6.2cm high. Estimate HK$70,000 - 90,000 (€6,700 - 8,600)

See W.Sargent, The Copeland Collection: Chinese and Japanese Ceramic Figures, Peabody Museum of Salem, 1991, no.74 (fig.1) for a very similar example, and the discussion of comparisons with the European prototype. This example is nearly identical in form and decoration to a slipper-form bonbonnière made by the Mennecy factory about 1750 which has a silver-mounted rim bearing the Paris discharge mark for 1750-1756. Other ceramic shoes also of this period are known from Chatilly and Doccia. Although this example was undoubtedly made exclusively for the Export market, ceramic shoes per se were not unknown in China. In the North, the word for shoe xie formed a rebus expressing reciprocal understanding. Porcelain shoes, tokens of harmony between two people, were used as cups and were occasionally given as wedding presents in China.

Bonhams. THE SPEELMAN COLLECTION OF CHINESE 'IMPERIAL TRIBUTE' SNUFF BOXES. Hong Kong. 24 Nov 2013 13:00 CST