Lot 6008. A famille rose enameled and gilt-decorated porcelain snuff bottle, Qianlong mark, 1790-1850. Estimate US$ 5,000 - 7,000 (4,600 - 6,400). Photo: Bonhams.

Of spade form, with a short waisted neck, gilt-painted convex lip, each main side with a conforming gilt-framed panel, worked in enamels of various colors, richly painted with a garden scene depicting a fluffy cat on rocks surrounded with bamboo and seasonal flowers, and with two butterflies hovering nearby; the reverse painted with two magpies perched on a blooming prunus tree and further decorated with large peony blossoms, all separated by a yellow ground band on the narrow sides filled with additional floral and scroll designs, the flat rectangular base with the six-character mark in seal script painted in iron red. 2 1/4in (5.7cm) high

Provenance: Robert Hall, 4th January 1990

Notes: Compare a snuff bottle designed in the same format and with very notable similarities in the composition of the painted enamel, but on a gilt background, dated Qianlong period, from the Collection of Y.F.Yang, published and illustrated in "Interior Landscapes: the Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle", Shawn Eichman, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Journal, Spring 2011, fig.14, p.7.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23744: CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM TWO PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTIONS, 10:00 EDT - NEW YORK