Page 114 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17

•338
A BLACK-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE
1780-1850
The opaque overlay is carved through to the translucent white
ground with two men with a donkey and cart on one side, and a pig
being lured towards a man holding a bowl on the reverse.

2Ω in. (6.3 cm.) high, glass stopper

$3,000-5,000

PROVENANCE

Dennis G. Crow, Los Angeles, California, 1995.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts,
no. 1759.

The pig signifes the successful scholar. In the Tang dynasty,
the names of candidates who passed the fnal civil service
examination were inscribed on the wall of the Yan Ta Pagoda of
the Ci’en Si Monastery in the capital, Chang’an. The phrase Yan
Ta timing (Having one’s name inscribed on Yan Ta) became a
metaphor for gaining the highest academic achievement. As the
practice evolved over the centuries the successful scholars’ names
were inscribed in red (zhu), and candidates about to undertake the
examinations were often treated to braised pig feet (zhuti) for good
luck. The words pun on the expression for an aspiring scholar who
hopes to have his name (ming) inscribed (ti) in red (zhu). Models of
338 pigs convey best wishes (see K.B. Tsang, “A Look at the Pig in the
Year of the Pig”, JICSBS, Spring 1995, pp. 12-20).
1780-1850年 白地套黑玻璃騎驢圖鼻煙壺

•339 PROVENANCE
AN ENAMELED PORCELAIN SNUFF BOTTLE
JINGDEZHEN KILNS, 1880-1940 Galerie Bertrand De Lavergne, Paris, 2006.
The lingzhi head-form bottle is decorated on either side with a Robert Hall, London, 2006.
raised panel, one depicting a scholar and attendant in a walled Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2007.
garden, the other with poetic inscriptions referring to the scene. The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts,
narrow sides are fanked by dog mask and ring handles on a stippled no. 4540.
turquoise ground, and the base has an apocryphal Qianlong mark.
1880-1940年 松石綠地粉彩開光高士圖詩文鼻煙壺
1æ in. (4.5 cm.) high, glass stopper

$2,000-3,000

339
(two views)

112