A fine and rare gilt-copper 'European-subject' snuff bottle mark and period of Qianlong

of circular form, the body well-moulded in low relief with an elaborate meandering lotus scroll between a ruyi band at the neck, and keyfret border at the foot, the two sides each inlaid with an oval enamel plaque with a beaded border, finely-painted by a European hand, one side with the portrait of a European man, the other of a lady, the stopper cast with a central floret, the base with a raised four-character mark  

It is rare to find snuff bottles painted with portraits of  Western ladies, although a similar gilt-bronze snuff bottle inset with European enamel panels depicting a seated Western lady is illustrated in Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in The Collection of Mary and George Bloch, London, 1995, cat. no. 14. For examples of European figures depicted on enamelled snuff bottles see one, from the collection of Hugh M. Moss, sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2000, lot 220.  

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