Lot 6010. A famille rose enameled porcelain snuff bottle, 1912-1949. Estimate US$ 3,000 - 5,000 (€2,800 - 4,600). Photo: Bonhams.

The flattened shield-shaped bottle rising to a waisted neck, its wide everted lip and spreading oval foot ring with a gilt finish, each of the main sides decorated with a raised panel delicately painted in gilt and enamels with flowers and butterflies, against a ground filled with repeating patterns in iron-red, the high shoulders molded with two faux animal head-and-ring handles, the recessed foot bearing an apocryphal Guyue Xuan mark. 1 3/4in (4.5cm) high

Provenance: Bob C. Stevens Collection, Sotheby Parke Bernet, Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Bob C. Stevens, Part III, New York, 25 June 1982, lot 61

Illustrated: Arts of Asia, Jan-Feb., 1982, p. 91, no 4

Notes: The painting motif and style on this snuff bottle is reminiscent of those often appearing on porcelain vases and plaques during the Republic period. Compare a very similar porcelain snuff bottle in the Bentley Collection, bearing a Qianlong nian zhi mark, ilustrated in the catalog of The Bentley Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Asian Art Studio, Inc., 2008, p. 100.

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