A MOLDED PORCELAIN 'BUDDHIST LION AND CUB' SNUFF BOTTLE, QING DYNASTY

Molded and carved porcelain with multicolor enamel painting in Famille Rose palette. China, late 18th to first half of 19th century

Depiction of a seated Buddhist lion clutching its cub, delicately painted in vivid colors. There is another bottle in this sale, which seems to be almost identical to this one, but may still be from a different mold. The exterior details are almost the same, but measurements between certain points differ by a critical millimeter or two, which they shouldn't if they were from the exact same mold. Also, one is a bit smaller than the other, although it is conceivable that such a variation might be due to the hand fitting of the two halves, to firing temperature and cooling time. If these bottles indeed come from different molds, it indicates how careful the mold makers were to maintain the precise details of a popular model in making a new set of molds. Other versions are known with no enameling at all. They all have at some point been attributed to date from the Jiaqing period and exist in sufficiently large numbers to demonstrate a popular and, possibly, imperial model.

Shape: Figural
Hollowing: Standard
Mouth, neck and lip: Mouth succinct to depiction
Base: Oval convex base with raised foot rim
Design, marks, school: Jingdezehn kilns
Stopper: Rose quartz with onyx platelet
Height of the bottle with stopper: 8.3 cm.
Width of the mouth: 6 mm.
Condition: Excellent, with only minor wear
Provenance: Provenance: Stephen Max Kellen, founder of the American Academy in Berlin; THE ANNA-MARIA AND STEPHEN KELLEN FOUNDATION, NEW YORK

Literature comparison: Bob C. Stevens, The Collectors Book of Snuff Bottles, Weatherhill, New York, 1980, lot 1007. (for a reclining version of this bottle, listed among the "favorites among the favored") Bob C. Stevens, The Collectors Book of Snuff Bottles, Weatherhill, New York, 1980, lot 349. (for an almost identical bottle, dated to the 18th century, from the Neal Hunter collection) Snuff Bottles from the Mary & George Bloch Collection: Part IX. Sotheby's, Hong Kong, November 24th, 2014, lot 180. (for a non-enameled version of the subject, dated to Jiaqing period) Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles XI, The Snowy Peaks Collection, lot 47. (for a related bottle, but the lion with a ball instead of a cub, dated to Daoguang)

清代粉彩陶瓷"獅子與幼獅"鼻烟壺
品相極好，有些微磨損
柏林美國學院創始人史蒂文∙馬克斯∙ 科冷Stephen Max Kellen；紐約安娜∙ 瑪利亞與