Page 112 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

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A RARE ENAMEL ON COPPER ‘EUROPEAN 清乾隆 銅胎畫琺瑯西洋人物圖鼻煙壺
SUBJECT’ SNUFF BOTTLE, MARK AND PERIOD 《乾隆年製》款
OF QIANLONG
the base with a four-character mark in blue enamel, stopper 來源:
(2)
Height 2 in., 5 cm 莫士撝，倫敦
紐約蘇富比2000年3月22日，編號220
PROVENANCE
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., London. 出版：
Sotheby’s New York, 22nd March 2000, lot 220. 許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff
bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香
LITERATURE
港，2013年，圖版353
Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles
Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 353.
Snuff bottles of this high quality enameling, especially those
with decorative motifs including European subjects so
favored by the Qianlong Emperor, were not only produced
in Beijing, but also by private enamellers working at
Guangzhou. A European-subject snuff bottle from the Qing
Court Collection and still in Beijing, depicting ladies in a
rustic landscape, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of
230 the Palace Museum: Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 168,
where it is divulged that it can be dated to 1779, as it is
A RELIEF-DECORATED FAMILLE-ROSE- 清 料胎畫琺瑯雕耄耋圖鼻烟壺 《古月軒》款 recorded that a customs supervisor in Guangzhou, Tu Minga,
ENAMELED OPAQUE WHITE GLASS ‘CAT AND presented the Qianlong Emperor with a set of such snuff
BUTTERFLY’ SNUFF BOTTLE, QING DYNASTY bottles, all created in Guangzhou. Such commissions by high
展覽：
the base with a three-character Guyuexuan mark in iron red, 《壺趣集慶：中國鼻煙壺展》，徐氏藝術館，香 officials looking for the most desirable gifts to present to the
stopper (2) 港，1996年，封面及編號78 Emperor were clearly popular at the Court.
Height 2⅝ in., 6.7 cm Finely painted in vivid tones and featuring vignettes of
《天地造化》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2005
EXHIBITED 年，編號104 European ladies conversing against a landscape scene,
the present bottle belongs to a group of Qianlong mark
A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs: An Exhibition of and period snuff bottles sharing these characteristics,
Chinese Snuff Bottles, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, 出版： likely produced by the same hand or workshop. Several
cover and cat. no. 78. 《國際中國鼻煙壺協會學術期刊》，1997年夏季 snuff bottles in this group also have a stippled pattern on
Heavenly Creations, University Museum and Art Gallery, The 刊，封面 the narrow sides, including a bottle sold in these rooms,
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2005, cat. no. 104. 許建勳，《An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff 22nd March 2000, lot 220; another sold in these rooms,
bottles Christopher Sin’s Collection》，卷一，香 24th June 2020, lot 959. Other snuff bottles of this type have
LITERATURE 港，2013年，圖版168 a diaper pattern and puce-enameled ‘landscape’ cartouches
JICSBS, Summer 1997, front cover. on the narrow sides, including a snuff bottle sold in these
Humphrey Hui, An Addicted Dedication: Chinese Snuff bottles rooms, 2nd December 1985, lot 146.
Christopher Sin’s Collection, vol. I, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 168.
⊖ $ 20,000-30,000
The present bottle belongs to a group that share similar
design elements, but are all ultimately unique. The intricately
enameled scene of a cat and butterfly has the auspicious
connotation for living to the age of eighty or longevity more
broadly, while the lotus flowers symbolize purity of life.
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. See also the enameled
glass ‘quails’ snuff bottle offered in this sale, lot 229, where
the significance of the guyue xuan mark is explored.
⊖ $ 10,000-15,000

220 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11410 SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE CHRISTOPHER SIN COLLECTION 221