TWO CHINESE ENAMELLED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLES FOUR CHARACTER DAOGUANG MARKS...

TWO CHINESE ENAMELLED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLES FOUR CHARACTER DAOGUANG MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD 1821-50 One painted with a scene from the Qiu Sheng Fu by the Song dynasty essayist and poet Ouyang Xiu, the reverse decorated with a tree and bamboo beneath an extract from the literary work which reads xing yue jiaojie, minghe zai tian, the other snuff bottle finely painted with butterflies in flight and resting on mossy ground, with areas of detail picked out in gilt, the base of each with the reign mark in iron-red, 5.6cm and 5.5cm. (2) Provenance: from an English private collection, West Sussex, acquired by the current owner during various tours of duty between 1968 and 1985. Cf. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Snuff Bottles, pp.221 and 223, nos.336 and 339 for two Daoguang mark and period snuff bottles in the Imperial Collection also decorated with this scene from the Qiu Sheng Fu; see also Christie's New York, 15th March 2017, lot 479 for another example from the collection of Ruth and Carl Barron.