A CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL 'BATS' SNUFF BOTTLE AND STOPPER Qianlong four-character mark and of the period The flattened body supported on a short foot and rising to high shoulders converging into a cylindrical neck with lipped rim, enamelled with eight red bats leisurely flying amidst lime-coloured clouds on a blue ground, framed by a band of ruyi at the neck and upward lappets at the foot, the foot and rim gilt, the stopper enamelled with a flower head. 6.4cm (2 1/2in) high including stopper. (2). Footnotes: 清乾隆 銅胎掐絲琺琅云蝠紋鼻烟壺 「乾隆年製」楷書刻款 Provenance: Trudy and John Cohen 來源：Trudy及John Cohen伉儷 Bats (fu 蝠) are homophonous with fu (福), meaning 'good fortune, happiness', and are therefore a particularly auspicious motif, especially when shown flying amidst clouds (yun 雲), themselves a pun on fortune (yun 運). Red bats carry an added layer of meaning, red (hong 紅) sounding like hong (鸿) meaning vast and abundant, and thus forming the rebus hongfu qitian (鸿福齐天): happiness as vast as the sky. When four bats are depicted together, they allude to the Four Happinesses as described in the poem by the Southern Song scholar-official Hong Ma (1123-1202): 久旱逢甘雨， 他鄉遇故知， 洞房花燭夜， 金榜題名時 Which may be translated as: Sweet rain after a long drought, meeting an old friend in a foreign place, the wedding night in the bridal chamber, and the sight of one's name on the golden placard. Compare with a related cloisonné enamel snuff bottle, Qianlong four-character mark and of the period, illustrated by Sydney L. Moss Ltd., An Exhibition of Snuff Bottles, London, 1965, no.158. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing