Antique Chinese Stoneware Tiger Medicine or Snuff Bottle

Antiques : Snuff Bottles : Pottery

 

A large bottle at over 3 1/2" tall, this was likely a medicine or herb bottle but may well have been used for snuff as well. Dating the bottle, I have to rely on the glaze, the blue underglaze and the artwork. The childish rendering of the tiger, with anatomically incorrect articulated claws, leads me to believe that the piece is relatively early, mid 19th century or later. Drawings and depictions of animals during that period were silly looking because photographs were not widely available to accurately portray animals, and few in the general public would actually see a live tiger. Artists relied on other drawings and written descriptions, etc.Thus the tiger looks like a great big kitty. I'm dating this 1850-1900, as a generalization. The glaze has imperfections and firing pits as early blue underglaze pottery items do. The bottom of the bottle has a Chinese antique export seal fragment, which does help support authenticity when we are certain the item is antique, as in this case. I'm still working on the bottom markings, which may reveal the exact reign period of the bottle. The nicely carved, genuine elephant ivory spoon is a later add-on. This is a really interesting piece.

Item ID: SN99