A fine and rare molded biscuit porcelain square cylinder snuff bottle
Chen Guozhi
Of square cylinder shape with cylindrical neck and deep square foot, the exquisite decoration partially molded, partially carved and possibly with some applied decoration, each side with bordered panel with two of the eight Daoist emblems set on a cloud ground and very lightly brushed in a clear glaze, with a four-character intaglio seal mark Chen Guozhi zuo.
2 11/16in (6.7cm) high, stopper
Footnotes:
陳國治 素胎白瓷模刻八寶吉祥圖鼻煙壺 《陳國治作》款

For a splendid turquoise-glazed and molded landscape porcelain bottle by the same artist, see Bonhams, Hong Kong, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Part I, 28 May 2010, lot 81. The catalogue entry includes a lengthy biography of the artist and comparable examples.

Chen Guozhi was one of great masters of porcelain carving and as is noted by Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. 1, 1993, p. 416-417, no. 249, a little of his career can be gleaned from nineteenth-century literary sources. He appears in Zhao Zhiqian's book on snuff and snuff bottles of the late nineteenth century, where it is noted that he was a 'native of Qimen, who carved porcelain bottles with the technique of the painter, so pieces by him are absolutely unique in the whole world'. He is also mentioned by Jin Wuxiang, who published his Suxiang suibi (Casual jottings amid the fragrance of grain) in the Guangxu period, where he notes that Chen Guozhi was 'Of great renown at this time, his work was never lightly undertaken, every piece being valued at ten pieces of gold'. Finally, Chen is also mentioned in the Guwan zhinan (Handbook of Chinese Antiquity) of 1943, as a 'refined artisan and skilful workman'.