Page 132 - Marchant Ninety Jades For 90 Years

七 71. Snuff bottle of flattened, rounded, rectangular form, carved on one side in low relief with branches of blossoming prunus and buds

十 issuing from pierced rockwork, beside a four-character relief inscription, jing guan shang wan, ‘Peacefully observing and enjoying’,

一 with cylindrical neck and oval footrim, the stone pure white.

2 ¾ inches, 7 cm high, without stopper.
梅 Qianlong, 1736-1795.
紋

「 • From the personal collection of Edward T. Chow (1910-1980), and thence by direct descent.
靜 • A related snuff bottle, carved on one side with a branch of prunus, the reverse with a poem, formerly in the collections of Albert
觀
賞 Pyke and Elizabeth & Ladislas Kardos, is illustrated by Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang in The Art of the Chinese
玩 Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Volume I, no. 28, p. 75, where the authors note, ‘This understated and superbly carved white
」 jade snuff bottle represents the earlier of two distinct styles sensibly attributed to Suzhou’; another is illustrated by Bob C.

鼻 Stevens in The Collector’s Book of Snuff Bottles, no. 355, pp. 112/3; another, carved on each side with prunus, is illustrated by
煙 Robert Kleiner in Chinese Snuff Bottles, The White Wings Collection, no. 17, pp. 34/5, where the author also notes, ‘This exquisite
壺 small bottle is one of the great masterpieces of the genre. It belongs to the early phase of carving from Suzhou.’
• The prunus blossom, meihua, is emblematic of perseverance and purity. It is a welcome sight in winter and a symbol for vigorous

白 old age. As the first flower to bloom each year, it represents renewal and heralds the spring. The five petals represent the five

玉 blessings and form the rebus, meikai wufu, ‘May the blossoms bring you the five blessings.’

乾
隆

Edward T. Chow

先
生
舊
藏

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