Page 50 - Bonhams Sept 2016 Snuff Bottles

9088 (two views) 9088
A DUAN STONE SNUFF BOTTLE
9089 (two views) Imperial, 1760-1820
48 | BONHAMS Of flattened globular shape, with a flat lip
and a flat, oval foot, finely carved in low
relief with three stylized kui dragons forming
the character for long (dragon) on one side,
reversed by naturalistic dragons surround a
poetic inscription, the sides with fixed ring lion
mask handles, the lions with the distinctive
‘official’s hat.’
2 1/4in (5.7cm) high

US$3,000 - 5,000

A nearly identical bottle with the same
inscription is illustrated in Humphrey K.F.
Hui and Christopher C.H. Sin An Imperial
Qing Tradition, Hong Kong, 1994 no 114. As
translated by Hui and Sin, the poem reads:

Duanxi nurtures fine materials,
Smooth and tender as beautiful jade.
Imperial manufacture.

This bottle belongs to a small group produced
in Guangzhou-the location of the duan stone
quarries--for the imperial 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.

1760-1820 御製端石刻夔龍鋪首耳鼻煙壺

9089
AN ENAMELED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE,
Qianlong Mark, Yangzhou, 1780-1850
Of flattened pear form, the milky body
delicately painted with a bird on a persimmon
branch, reversed by flying birds amid
blossoms, all below a stylized ruyi head band
at the very slightly flaring neck, the flat foot
enameled with a four-character mark in iron-
red.
2 1/4in (5.7cm) high

US$4,000 - 6,000

乾隆款 揚州工 1780-1850 白料胎畫琺琅’春風
如意’鼻煙壺