A incised and gilded metal snuff bottle
1720-1880
Of tapering cylindrical form, with a stepped, collared shoulder and a flat lip, the the shoulder with a wood grain pattern, the body with a gilt incised continuous landscape with a figure, a pagoda, trees and birds.
2 3/4in (7cm) high
Footnotes:
1720-1880年 填金山水圖鼻煙壺

Provenance:
Clare Lawrence, March 1990

Published:
Journal, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Summer 1991, cover.

This is one of select group of incised and gilt metal snuff bottles produced in the 18th and 19th centuries. In general, these bottles assume a cylindrical form and rely on decoration that is inspired by decorative techniques that adorned Song and Ming dynasty archaistic bronze vessels. On this bottle, the schematic depiction of the mountains as overlapping triangles is a deliberate archaism seen on Han dynasty tiles. For a lengthy discussion on other bottles from this group, see Michael C. Hughes, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Baltimore, 2009, pp. 336-337, no. 259,where a similar bottle is illustrated.

Another sold in these rooms, Bonhams New York, 18 March 2019, lot 734.