The snuff bottle is molded in the form of a reclining Buddhist lion with a beribboned ball in its mouth and forepaws. The bottle is covered overall in a crackled white glaze, and the eyes are picked out in black enamel.
3 in. (7.6 cm.) long, hardstone stopper

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Lot Essay

The molding of porcelain was standard practice at Jingdezhen long before the snuff-bottle period. Molding allows for easy mass production and is well suited to the manufacture of porcelain. Instead of forming each individual piece, a carver uses a single mold from which many identical pieces can be turned out. The use of complex molds for snuff bottles, that featured extensive relief decoration and dictated the entire form of the bottle, flourished from the late Qianlong period into the Jiaqing reign.