AN ENAMEL ON WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
Attributed to Yangzhou，1780-1850
Of teardrop form and a long, cylindrical neck and an oval foot, decorated in famille rose enamels with a continuous scene of, on one main side, a praying mantis perched on a begonia plant surrounded by long grasses and flowers, continued on the reverse with a flying bee in the air above flowers and grasses, the base with an iron-red Guyuexuan mark in seal script; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.1cm) high
Footnotes:
1780-1850 白料畫粉彩花蟲圖鼻煙壺一件
或爲揚州作，《古月軒》款

Provenance:
Eldred's Auction Gallery, December 4, 1998, lot 572
The Chepsted Collection, no. 306
Clare Chu
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 419

Literature:
Edwin Palmer and Clare Chu (Ed.). The Chepsted Notebook. A Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 2013, p. 70, no. 61, The Flower Garden

Hugh Moss in his re-evaluation of enamel on glass bottles attributes this group to the enamel workshops of Yangzhou. He points out that this group either bears Qianlong nianzhi marks or Guyuexuan marks but are clearly not produced in the Palace Workshops. Additionally, some of the bottles with a Guyuexuan mark have the yue character distinctly drawn sideways, as is the case with this bottle, a form which separates them from the original 'palace' group. The Chepsted Collection has two other enamel on glass bottles where this is the case (no.s 57 and 62).

Minor loss to the enamels. The bottle is extremely delicately painted on the elegantly shaped bottle.