A FAMILLE-ROSE PORCELAIN 'AMERICAN EAGLE' SNUFF BOTTLE, CIRCA 1874-1876
China. The ovoid body rising from a short tapered foot to a slightly flared neck with a flat lip. The exterior enameled to both sides with an eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows in its talons, its breast with a shield bearing resemblance to the United States flag, the wings spread out below a striped arch emitting golden rays.


Provenance
: French trade.

Condition
: Very good condition with minor wear and firing irregularities, few tiny nicks to the foot.

Stopper: Jadeite
Weight: 28.5 g
Dimensions: Height 60 mm. Diameter neck 11 mm and mouth 8 mm


Expert’s note:
Once American ships began trading at Guangzhou in the mid-Qing period, a range of porcelain wares was decorated with subjects suited to their market. In China for the West: Chinese Porcelain & Other Decorative Arts for Export Illustrated from the Mottahedeh Collection, London and New York, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1978, pp. 499-513, David Howard and John Ayers make a convincing case for this particular design having been made to commemorate the 1876 centenary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in the United States, suggesting a fairly specific date of production. If ordered for export, they would have been made long enough before the centenary to allow for shipping time and then discontinued; if the initiative came from the Chinese side, production could have begun later and ended less abruptly.


This bottle was probably enameled at Guangzhou
; it is decorated in a distinctive palette similar to other wares thought to have been decorated there. The coloring is typical of a late-Qianlong group of export wares made that favored the predominance of an unlikely combination of brown, iron-red and pink. The Chinese enamellers obviously had some trouble understanding the design they were given.


The commemorative series snuff bottles are extremely rare
while their larger vessel form counterparts are well known. Their rarity is partly obscured by a group of modern fakes made with a similar design in the 1970s.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23 November 2014, lot 77
Price: HKD 31,250 or approx.
EUR 4,500
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A famille-rose porcelain ‘American Eagle’ snuff bottle Qing dynasty, circa 1874-1876
Expert remark: Note the closely related motif.




1874-1876年粉彩《鷹》鼻煙壺

中國。圓柱體頸部，平口，長方圓肩，圈足。鼻煙壺兩面琺瑯繪有一隻鷹徽章，一隻爪子抓著橄欖枝，另一隻爪子抓著箭，胸前有一個類似於美國國旗的盾牌，翅膀展開，散發著金色的光芒。


來源：
法國古玩交易。

品相：
狀況非常好，有輕微磨損和燒製不規則，足部有一些小刻痕。

壺蓋：翡翠
重量：28.5 克
尺寸：高 60 毫米，頸部直徑11 毫米，壺口直徑8 毫米


拍賣結果比較：

形制：非常相近
拍賣：香港蘇富比，2014年11月23日，lot 77
價格：HKD 31,250（相當於今日
EUR 4,500
）
描述：清約1874-1876年粉彩「美國鷹徽」鼻煙壺
專家評論：請注意非常相近主題。