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I was disappointed to learn that our other snuff bottles were of recent vintage. I rummaged through our collection for something that looked like it had some "age" to it.

Below is a porcelain Bhudda & Monks snuff bottle. It has the usual Qianlong mark on the base. It is a little hard to see in the pictures but the bottom ring and the mouth are gold. Also, the figures are in high relief.

Is it as old as advertised? Any other information is appreciated.

Thanks,
Stan

The yellow to me looks late 19th century, as does the heavy use of purples and mauve (Tony Allen may have a better opinion on this than me). Modled body porcelain snuffs like this are fairly common and the overglaze copper red QL mark would suggest the same late 19th century dating to early 20th century, even into republican. The cover is poorly done and looks 20th century to me, but that does not affect the dating.


Anthony M. Lee
Asian Art Research

Anthony,

Thanks for the review. At least this one isn't brand new.

The top may be the right one. We bought a collection of snuff bottles by phone bid at auction. When received, the tops and bottoms were packed separately. We used our best judgment to pair them up.

This top looks more like a small weapon. I'm not sure I would put it near my nose. See below.

Thanks,
Stan

Coincidentally, only yesterday I extracted photos from our files of three similar snuff bottles, which are to be illustrated in a forthcoming book. They are too large format to post here.
My feeling is these are very late Qing dynasty at the earliest, and possibly early Republic; ie circa 1900 to 1930.

Stan, tne "monks" depicted on your snuff bottle are the Buddhist Luohans. The number of Luohans varied sometimes being 10, 16, 18, or even 500.
However the most common group is 18.
The Luohans were enlightenned Indian deciples of the Buddha and are known in sandscrit as Ahrats. They are in fact Buddhist saints whose role is to defend Buddhism and instruct mankind. You may recall I posted this moulded bottle vase some months ago depicting the same subject. The Luohan seen in your first image holding aloft the precious ring with magic powers and riding on a tiger is Pindola.
Pindola was a monk who lived in a mountain monastery. The monks used to hear a tiger howling every night and believed it to be hungry.
Pindola put a bowl of vegetarian food out for the tiger every night and eventually it was tamed. Hence he became known as the "Tiger Taming Luohan"

Anthony,

Thanks for the corroboration.

Phillip,

I suspected those guys were the Luohans. There are 18. I heard the Bhudda & Monks term somewhere.

I missed your vase. I suspect I discovered this site after you posted it. I like it.

Cheers,
Stan

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