The bottle is carved in relief and painted in ‘famille-rose’ enamels with a dragon chasing a ‘flaming pearl’, its body curled around the sides and picked out in pink on a green wave ground.
There is a key fret and ruyi head collar around the neck; the base inscribed guyuexuan (Ancient Moon Pavilion), in red 5.9cm.
Made in Beijing.
This is one of a group of ten snuff bottles of an extremely rare type, which are one of the great glories of the Burghley Collection.
The group was probably made in a private kiln established in Beijing around 1770 to cater for the increased demand of the Palace.
The kiln carried on production until approximately 1850.
