A Chinese underglaze blue and copper-red porcelain snuff bottle, 19th century, of tapering cylindrical form, painted with Meng Liang and Jiao Zan fighting at Hongyang Dong, an attendant to their side, six-character Yongzheng mark, 8.5cm high Hongyang Dong (Hongyang Cave) is a famous Peking opera, which tells the sad story of Meng Liang. When Yang Yanzhao, the general from the Song empire, discovers that his father Yang Jiye’s bones are buried at Hongyang Dong in the territories occupied by the Liao regime, he asks Meng Liang to steal the corpse. His friend, Jiao Zan, secretly goes after him to offer help, but in the dark of the cave, Meng kills the person following him, in the mistaken belief that he is an enemy. When he finds out that he has killed his best friend, he is so full of remorse that he arranges for his attendant to take the corpse and Jiao’s dead body back to Yang Yanzhao, and then Meng kills himself. On hearing the tragic story, Yang Yanzhao falls ill and dies of despair. This story has been adapted for many different styles of traditional opera, including the Beijing Opera, the Qing-style opera and Han-style opera. 清十九世纪 青花釉里红洪洋洞图鼻烟壶 《大清雍正年制》青花楷书款 Condition report: A small chip to rim.