Page 84 - Sothebys Speelman Gems of Chinese Art

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A PASTE-EMBELLISHED 清乾隆
GILT-BRONZE AND JADEITE 鎏金銅嵌翡翠料石八方蓋盒

OCTAGONAL SNUFF BOX
來源：
AND COVER Delehar，倫敦，千禧年初

QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG This rare snuff box was created in China using high-quality
PERIOD materials, inspired by snuff boxes from Europe. For a possible
prototype, see an agate and gilt-bronze snuff box of this
meticulously constructed with a gilt-bronze frame of exact octagonal form in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
rectangular form with canted corners, the top of the hinged probably a diplomatic gift from Europe, exhibited in Lifting the
cover with a semi-translucent green glass panel, framed Spirit and Body: The Art and Culture of Snuff Bottles, Taipei,
by bands of seed pearls and angled pink glass paste, the 2012, cat. no. I-010.
sides inset with panels of smoothly polished jadeite with The superiority of the jadeite in the present box is displayed to
dark mottles, interrupted by gilt bands inset with alternating its full splendour by leaving the polished surface undecorated,
circular pink and white glass paste, the interior of the cover a practice which was reserved only for the highest quality
and base finely engraved with a border of scrolls enclosing stones. The brilliance of the mottled green tones are further
a central design of a floral bloom wreathed by scrolling leafy accentuated by the contrasting tones and luminescence of the
vines against a densely patterned ground inlaid red and white glass paste as well as seed pearls, adding
7.4 cm, 2⅞ in. to the luxurious nature of the box.
PROVENANCE
Delehar, London, early 2000s.
HK$ 200,000-300,000
US$ 25,600-38,400

82 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比