Page 13 - Bonhams Chinese Scholar's Art March 2014

8005
A duan stone snuff bottle
Likely Imperial, 1760-1820
Of flattened pear shape, with a flat lip and
an oval foot rim surrounding a concave foot,
finely carved in low relief with three stylized kui
dragons forming the character for long (dragon)
on one side, reversed by naturalistic dragons,
the sides with fixed ring lion mask handles, the
lions with the distinctive ‘official’s hat’.
2 1/8in (5.3cm) high
$6,000 - 8,000

It is likely that this bottle belongs to a small
group of bottles produced in a Guangzhou
studio for the court during the late Qianlong/
Jiaqing periods. For similar bottles that also bear
the distinctive “Chinese hat” motif see Moss,
Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff
Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection
Hong Kong, 1998, vol 3, no. 393, Moss,
Graham and Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff
Bottle, The J & J Collection, New York, 1993,
no. 347, and Holden, Rivers and Mountains Far
From The World, Hong Kong, 1994, no 4.

8006 8005 (two views)
A black glass overlay snuff bottle imitating
repaired porcelain
1760-1840
Of compressed spherical form, with a flat lip and
oval foot rim around a convex foot, the black
glass overlay carved to resemble nine rivets, with
fixed ring mask handles to the sides.
2 1/4in (5.6 cm) high
$3,000 - 5,000

A small number of bottles with the black
overlay carved to mimic the rivets used to
repair porcelain are known. For another “nine
rivet” example see Moss, Graham, and Tsang
The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, the J &
J collection New York, 1993, no. 388, and
one formerly in the collection of Bob Stevens
illustrated in Chinese Snuff Bottles and Dishes,
Tokyo, 1978, no 56.

8006

Chinese Art from the Scholars Studio | 11