Page 111 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

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A RELIEF-DECORATED FAMILLE-ROSE- 清 料胎畫琺瑯雕嵗嵗平安圖鼻烟壺 《古月
ENAMELED OPAQUE WHITE GLASS ‘QUAILS 軒》款
AND MILLET’ SNUFF BOTTLE, QING DYNASTY
the base with a three-character Guyuexuan mark in iron red 展覽：
Height 2¼ in., 5.6 cm
《天地造化》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2005
EXHIBITED 年，編號107
Heavenly Creations, University Museum and Art Gallery, The
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 107. 出版：
許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff
LITERATURE
bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香
Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles 港，2013年，圖版171
Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 171.
The present bottle, intricately enameled with quails, belongs
to a group that share similar design elements, but are all
ultimately unique. The imagery of quails and grain refer
to the Chinese rebus suisui ping’an, which translates to
‘may there be peace year after year’. The molding and
enameling on this example are both of stellar quality, as
is the treatment of the flowers. One notable feature is the
extension of the painting from the molding to the body,
thereby providing a sense of fluidity to the two scenes.
Another enameled glass ‘quails’ snuff bottle with guyue xuan
mark from the Joe Grimberg Collection was sold in these
rooms, 14th September 2010, lot 11.
The Guyue Xuan has been the focus of much debate. Peter
Lam, in The Imperial Connection: Court Related Chinese
Snuff Bottles The Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection, Hong Kong,
228 1998, p. 36, writes: ‘There had been a glass factory in the
Yuanming Yuan since Yongzheng times, and the painting
A CARVED AMBER ‘RAM’ SNUFF BOTTLE, QING 清十八 / 十九世紀 琥珀雕羊形鼻煙壺 academy, Ruyi Guan was also situated in the ‘Dongtian
DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY Shenchu’ in Yuanming Yuan. And therefore it is probably not
too far-fetched to theorize that the Qianlong Emperor had
stopper (2) 來源: ordered glass wares to be used in this particular garden’.
Length 2⅜ in., 6 cm
Caldwell 收藏 The blanks of the glass objects were produced by the
紐約蘇富比1998年3月23至24日，編號275 glass factory, and afterwards they were decorated by the
PROVENANCE
court painters in the Ruyi Guan. Guyue Xuan would be the
The Caldwell Collection. place where these glass wares were used, and from which
Sotheby’s New York, 23rd-24th March 1998, lot 275. 出版： it derived its name. It is therefore possible that in the late
許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff
LITERATURE bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香 Qianlong through the Jiaqing reigns, some glass pieces,
including snuff bottles were marked with the studio name of
Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles 港，2013年，圖版319 Guyue Xuan. This early Guyue Xuan marked group all came
Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 319. from the Imperial Household Workshop and should have the
same characteristics as those earlier ones with Qianlong
⊖ $ 10,000-15,000
reign marks.’
⊖ $ 10,000-15,000

218 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11410 SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE CHRISTOPHER SIN COLLECTION 219