A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle

A blue and white 'foreign tribute bearers' snuff bottle

Reference: ART100951

The bottle is decorated with a continuous scene of eight foreign tribute bearers beside or astride an animal, some mythical and some real. Each figure holds a tribute item, including: a parasol, a tusk, silk, a staff, a branch of coral, a ruyi sceptre, coins, and a pearl. All below a spearhead border to the neck.

Catalogue note: a similar snuff bottle without a reign mark from the Mary and George Bloch collection was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 24 November 2014, lot 53. A similar snuff bottle with a Xianfeng reign mark like the current lot is illustrated in John Ault, ‘A Study of Ceramic Chinese Snuff Bottles, Part III'. Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Autumn 1993, p. 9, fig. 70. A snuff bottle with a slightly different design but marked Xianfeng also coming from the Bloch collection was sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 23 November 2010, lot 106.

Condition: appears to be in overall good condition.