A Canton Enamel 'European Subject' Snuff Bottle Mark and Period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 銅胎廣東畫琺瑯西洋人物圖鼻煙壺 《乾隆年製》款

Snuff bottles of this high quality enamelling, especially those with decorative motifs including European subjects so favoured by the Qianlong Emperor, were not only produced in Beijing, but also by private enamellers working in Guangzhou (Canton). Another Canton enamel European-subject snuff bottle from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, depicting ladies in a rustic landscape, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures, Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 115, pl. 168, where it is recorded that in 1779 a customs supervisor in Guangzhou, Tu Minga, presented the Qianlong Emperor with a set of such snuff bottles, all created in Guangzhou. Such commissions by high officials clearly looking for the most desirable gifts to present to the Emperor were clearly popular at the Court.