Four Chinese Blue and White Porcelain 'Dragon' Snuff Bottles, 19th Century

19th Century

Each of cylindrical form, painted to the exterior with ferocious dragons chasing flaming pearls amongst auspicious clouds; the two smallest bottles (one "soft paste", the other with an incised fret ground) each bearing a Yongzheng underglaze blue mark.

Height of largest including stopper 4 1/16 in., 10.3 cm.

Property from the Collection of David Billings and Beverly Hall Billings, Nantucket, MA.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

Provenance:

Inherited from the Garry P. Mack collection.

Property from the Collection of David Billings and Beverly Hall Billings, Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Creating a collection can be the work of a lifetime and cherishing another's life through his collection is something special indeed. My father's passion for collecting Chinese art infused everything he did. He could weave a snuff bottle story into any aspect of his eclectic world from the kitchen to the chemical lab. Stories still abound about overcrowded and cluttered rooms in the home of this talented and temperamental Renaissance man, but that was years ago and I have shared some of these reflections in other arenas. For now, in ‘the spirit of the chase’ aspect of collecting, I would like to offer an unorthodox haiku to celebrate this occasion.

Can I put new stoppers

On old bottles and

Call them mine?

Or is it time to empty boxes

And pursue the divine?

Beverly Hall Billings

Nantucket, Massachusetts