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25 février 2016

A famille rose enameled porcelain 'katydid' snuff bottle, Imperial, Jingdezhen kilns, Daoguang mark and of the period, 1821-1850

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Lot 6002. A famille rose enameled porcelain 'katydid' snuff bottle, Imperial, Jingdezhen kilns, Daoguang mark and of the period, 1821-1850. Estimate US$ 4,000 - 6,000 (€3,600 - 5,500). Photo: Bonhams.

The ovoid bottle rising to a gently waisted neck, rounded lip, sensitively painted in enamels with black penciled details depicting a katydid on an overturned cage, the reverse featuring the same insect with long thin antennae, the concave foot with thefour-character mark in seal script. 2 3/4in (7cm) high

NotesCompare another Daoguang-marked bottle, decorated with a katydid on a cage on one side, and a single katydid on the reverse, illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 6, Part 3, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 690-1, no. 1318.

The katydid, pronounced guoguo in Chinese, creates a pun for the word 'country' (guo). The image of katydid with a yellowish or gold cage produces a rebus for the phrase of jinzhong baoguo, which can be interpreted as 'to be loyal to one's country'. When a bottle with this design was gifted to a court official by the emperor it would be seen as both a recognition and a reminder of the essential virtue that any official figure had to carry.

Bonhams. CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM TWO PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTIONS, NEW YORK

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