Page 22 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17

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A RARE SILVER SNUFF BOTTLE
1785-1850
The bottle is decorated in relief on one side with a banquet being held on a boat, and the
reverse with a scholar standing with a brush before a clif, his attendant standing behind
him holding an ink stone, all upon a stylized wave and key-fret ground.

2æ in. (7 cm.) high, silver stopper

$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2003.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 3675.

EXHIBITED

Boston, International Chinese Snuf Bottle Society Convention, The Barron Collection,
23-26 September 2008.

This possibly unique, early silver bottle is among the very few surviving antique silver
bottles and is certainly among the most striking. It appears to have to been inspired by an
Imperial molded porcelain bottle from the late Qianlong and Jiaqing periods, and is a near
identical version of the molded porcelain bottle from the collection of Mary and George
Bloch, illustrated in Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuf Bottles, The Mary
and George Bloch Collection, 2008, Hong Kong, Vol. 6, Part 2, no. 1212, pp. 474-475.
On both bottles, the poet Su Shi is shown with companions on a boat being guided by
two attendants, with the reverse depicting a pre-Song-dynasty scholar inscribing a clif
face. Moss points out that “these scenes of boating with friends and inscribing poems
not only summon to the Chinese mind eminent historical fgures remembered for having
participated in these activities, they are also reminiscent of some of the favorite pastimes
pursued by intellectuals.”

Another silver bottle modeled after a molded porcelain bottle was sold at Christie’s New
York, The J & J Collection: Part III, 29 March 2006, lot 11. It is arguably the only other
known silver bottle inspired by a mid-Qing molded porcelain bottle.
20 1785-1850年 銀胎人物故事圖鼻煙壺