Page 64 - In His Majesty's Palm Excuisite Playthings April 5 17 HK Sothebys
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This exceptional snu bottle, one of a set created in limited The same four-character seal mark, inscribed in black enamel
numbers for the Qianlong Emperor, is a tactile delight, within a square, can be seen on a yellow-ground famille-rose
representing the apex of quality of all enamelled porcelain porcelain snu bottle, also from the Qing court collection
snu bottles. Created early in his reign at Jingdezhen under and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection
the close supervision of Tang Ying, the quality of its complex of Treasures, op.cit., p. 194, no. 304, and on a blue-ground
moulded double-gourd form and the intricate delicacy of the famille-rose porcelain snu bottle, enamelled with a landscape
enamelled design sets it apart from other porcelain examples. scene and Imperial poem, sold in these rooms, 24th November
The painting is superb, with uid rendition of the gourds, leaves 2014, lot 88, from the Mary and George Bloch Collection.
and undulating scrolling vine, and an intricately picked out
dense ground of scrolls in brilliant gold. Exquisite naturalism Peter Y.K. Lam expounds in ‘Imperial Famille Rose Decorated
is achieved through the spontaneity of the undulating scrolling Snu Bottles of the Qianlong Period in Chinese Collections’,
gourd vines and the vividness of the detailing, including the Journal of the International Chinese Snu Bottle Society,
veins of the leaves, painstakingly rendered through carefully Autumn 2003, p. 6, that in the 12th month of the year
modulated black lines on the green enamel. corresponding to 1758, the Qianlong Emperor ordered that
three snu bottles be sent to Jingdezhen as models to produce
One of the set, from the Qing court collection, is still preserved ‘nine gourd-shaped snu bottles, nine kidney-shaped snu
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete bottles and six vase-shaped snu bottles’. It is possible that
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Snu Bottles, the set to which the current example belongs is one of these
Hong Kong, 2003, p. 201, no. 311. Those dispersed outside ‘nine gourd-shaped’ bottles, demonstrating the Qianlong
of the Imperial collection include one in the British Museum, Emperor’s exacting demands and stringent overview of
on loan from the Sir Percival David Foundation, illustrated in the manufacture process of snu bottles created under his
Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics. personal attention.
Highlights from the Sir Percival David Collection, London, 2009,
p. 17, g. 9; another sold at Christie’s New York, 2nd December Another entry in the Neiwufu records referring to a porcelain
1993, lot 466, now in the collection of Denis Low, illustrated double-gourd snu bottle with gilt stopper may also relate
by Denis S.K. Low, More Treasures from the Sanctum of to one of this set. It states that on the 30th day of the 9th
Enlightened Respect, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 174, no. 160; and a month of the 46th year, a cinnabar lacquer tiered case was
pair originally in the J and J Collection, one sold most recently manufactured to store snu bottles. The description of the
at Bonhams Hong Kong, 23rd November 2010, lot 121, from bottles placed inside on the 3rd day of the 10th month of the
the Mary and George Bloch Collection, which holds the current same year includes detailed descriptions of ‘a falangcai gourd-
record price for any porcelain snu bottle; and another most shaped snu bottle with a coral stopper, a porcelain gourd-
recently at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7th October 2014, lot 32, shaped snu bottle with a gilt stopper, an agate “melon” snu
from a private American collection. bottle with stopper, and a white jade “twin mythical beast”
snu bottle with stopper’.
62 SOTHEBY’S 㬴ჹ℁
