Page 29 - CHRISTIE'S Barron Collection Snuff Bottles 09/13/17

•226 The auspicious symbolism of bats and shou (longevity) characters
A BLUE-OVERLAY GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE is typical of a range of Court designs, and snuf bottles and
PROBABLY IMPERIAL, 1730-1820 other works of art decorated with such motifs would frequently
The translucent blue overlay is carved through to the translucent, be distributed by the Emperor as gifts. The bat (fu) and shou
slightly milky and bubble-sufused ground on either side with a medallion, together with the form of the bottle (ping) provides the
design of fve bats (wufu) encircling a shou medallion. Each narrow rebus fushou ping’an (“May you be blessed with good fortune, long
side is decorated with a mask and ring handle. life and peace”).

2Ω in. (6.3 cm.) high, tourmaline stopper The inclusion of fve bats on each main side of the bottle is also
signifcant - fve bats represent the Five Blessings (a long life,
$8,000-12,000 riches, health, love of virtue, and a natural death). They also form
the rebus wufu qingshou (“fve bats extend good wishes on one’s
PROVENANCE birthday”).

The Meriem Collection. The sapphire-blue overlay, combined with the mask handles with
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2008. circular rings, and the carving style in general, all suggest that
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, this bottle would have been made at the Palace workshops. An
no. 4854. example of this design in dark brown overlay on a clear ground,
formerly from the Marian Mayer Collection (no. 260), is illustrated
EXHIBITED in the exhibition catalogue, Robert Hall, Chinese Snuf Bottles
III, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 130, no. 110, while one with black overlay
Canadian Craft Museum, Vancouver, 1992. on a white ground is illustrated by M. Hughes, The Blair Bequest.
Chinese Snuf Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum,
Baltimore, 2002, p. 145, no. 179.
1730-1820年 雪霏地套藍玻璃五福團壽紋鼻煙壺

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