Page 17 - Bonhams Art from the Scholar's Studio, September 16, 2013 NY

8011
An enameled milk glass snuff bottle
Yangzhou school, 1770-1799
Of spade shape, with a flat lip and waisted neck, the opaque body with
famille rose palette enamels, one side with butterflies and poppies,
reversed by a scene of a cricket on begonias, the flat foot bearing a faint
iron red four-character Qianlong mark in seal script.
2 1/8in (5.4cm) high
$2,500 - 4,000

Provenance:
Fu-Ming-Fair, 1970

A similarly painted white glass bottle also dated to the late 18th century,
but of flattened meiping form, was sold with the J & J collection. See
Christies New York, Wednesday September 17th, 2008, lot 85.

8012
A green jadeite snuff bottle
1840-1900
Of compressed ovoid form, with a slightly concave lip, a straight neck,
and a rounded oval foot rim, the body carved in high relief with a prunus
to one side, reversed by a peony branch, the interior well-hollowed, the
stone with patches of emerald contrasting with areas of white.
2 1/4in (5.8cm) high
$2,000 - 3,000

Provenance:
T.Y. King, Hong Kong

8013 8012
An inscribed green nephrite snuff bottle
1780-1823
Of compressed ovoid form imitating a hu bronze, with a rope-form lip
around a wide mouth and a rope-form foot rim surrounding a shallowly
recessed foot, the foot bearing an incised three character mark in clerical
script reading “Yijin Zhai”, the body with a design of interlaced rope
threading through four huan discs, the interior well-hollowed, the stone
with flecks of black.
2 1/4in (5.8cm) high
$8,000 - 12,000

Provenance:
T.Y. King, Hong Kong

The twisted rope pattern that appears on this and similar bottles (see
also Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, no 122; and A
Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles the Mary and George Bloch Collection
volume I no. 102) is inspired by the designs that appear on early bronzes,
and in this instance the green hue of the jade also mimics the patina that
would appear on ancient bronzes.

This impressively carved bottle also boasts an important pedigree, as the
Yijin Zhai mark indicates that it was once in the collection of Yongxing
(Prince Cheng) (1752-1823) the eleventh son of the Qianlong emperor.
Yongxing was well-known for his calligraphic skills and for his collection
of early calligraphy of which his most prized object was the Eastern Jin
Dynasty calligrapher Lu Ji’s (4th century) Pingfu tie, from whence the
Yijin Zhai (The Jin Bequest Studio) derived its name. As a connoisseur of
antiquity, Prince Cheng surely would have appreciated this snuff bottle’s
reference to the past. For more on Yongxing and Yijin Zhai, see Humphrey
Hui. The Imperial Connection p.37-39, no 92.

8013

Chinese Art From The Scholar’s Studio | 15