GILT-DECORATED CORAL-RED- GLAZED TEA BOAT QING DYNASTY, JIAQING MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 清嘉慶款及年代 珊瑚紅地描金纏枝蓮紋茶船 of boat form, the base of the interior painted with a lotus surrounded by four butterflies, each side of the interior decorated with a bat and lotus in tendrils, the exterior further adorned with butterflies and lotus in tendrils, the base inscribed with a six-character Jiaqing mark in iron-red on a turquoise ground (14.5cm wide) Qty: (1) Provenance: Private English collection, Surrey Note: In Tao Ya, the old man of Jiyuan in the Qing Dynasty mentioned that "A cup holder is called a tea boat. In the Ming dynasty, it was made like a boat. In the Kangyong (Kangxi and Yongzheng) period, the holder for a small wine cup was rounded and not hollowed, but the Song kiln was hollowed. The design over time has fixed the simplicity and clumsiness." It can be seen that the boat-shaped cup holder or saucer appeared in the Ming dynasty. Its purpose was to hold the teacup to keep the heat from hands. Later, due to its boat-like shape, it was then named the "tea boat". ---------------------以下为软件翻译，仅供参考---------------------