Description

Soft-paste porcelain, of cylindrical shape, painted in underglaze blue with a female figure wearing a skirt decorated with flowers, the reverse with a lengthy inscription above crested waves.  The inscription above the figure reads ‘The daughter of Cao Xu’, and the inscription on the reverse tells the tale of a girl, Cao E, who spent days in the river looking for her father, who had fallen into it.  Eventually she found him and became a symbol of filial piety celebrated to this day in the Dragon Boat Festival.

Jingdezhen, 1850-1900.

8.4cm

Published: Robert Kleiner, In Search of a Dragon, Underglaze-Blue and White Porcelain Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Joseph Baruch Silver, no 38.