Here's another recent find. As you can see, it's sadly cracked, but the good news is it cost very little!
It's a beautiful little item. I haven't got round to measuring it yet but would guess it's around 3 1/2 inches tall. It's decorated in underglaze blue with a design of vases and flowers - one side shows a particularly attractive vase decorated with a cracked-ice pattern.
The body is slightly lobes and stands on an applied foot with a scroll design.
From looking around on the web, it seems this would have originally have had a lid. The form is described as a tea caddy, though I don't know if they were used as such. The other examples I've found are all decorated with overglaze enamels, however, they share the same distinctive form and foot.
They seem to be dated to Yongzheng to Qianlong period, though it must be noted these dates are from dealers' sites - I haven't found an example in a reference book yet, although I have no reason to doubt the date. I've also seen a famille verte example dated as Kangxi period.
Steven
