Page 36 - Bonhams Dicker Collection Snuff Bottles March 2015

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A variegated pink glass ‘cabbage’ snuff bottle A pink overlay milky-white glass snuff bottle
Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1750-1800 Attributed to Yangzhou School, 1800-1850
Of flattened tapering form with a wide mouth, thin, flat lip, the opaque Of flattened rounded form with a waisted neck, flat lip, oval foot ring,
pink glass in various shades expertly carved as a cabbage with overlaid with a thin layer of soft pink, carved with a man in a sailing
rendered overlapping leaves. boat, the near front revealing the roof of a pavilion behind flowers
3in (7.6cm) high and rocks, with a small cartouche to the right reading ‘jixiang’ (good
$6,000 - 8,000 omen), the verso depicting a Mandarin duck swimming in a pond,
fronted with a floating pomegranate branch, a long-tailed bird, and a
Provenance bat in flight, the narrow sides with two lion mask-and-handle rings.
The Asian Art Studio, Inc., 2010 2in (5.1cm) high
Emily Newel, CA $2,000 - 3,000
Clara Ziegler Newell
Provenance
Like many images, cabbage has special symbolic meanings in Chinese Asiantiques, 30 January 1999
culture. Subsequently it has been a popular subject in many art forms. Gary Mack
The most recognized and frequently referred example perhaps is the
jadeite cabbage from the Qing dynasty, now in the collection of the 揚州風格白地套粉料漁樂鴛鴦鼻煙壺
National Palace Museum in Taipei. In the Northern Chinese culture,
cabbage represents transparent, clean, and purity because the
vegetable in reality has a color combination of green and white, which
create a rebus for qing (transparent, clear) and bai (white, purity). As
such the image has often been borrowed as a reminder to official figures
to stay clean and uncontaminated from the temptation-filled world. On
the other hand, a carving incorporating cabbage in Southern China
evokes wealth since the word for cabbage is pronounced fat choi,
similar to the pronunciation for becoming wealthy.

Compare a pink overlay white glass snuff bottle in the form of a
cabbage, from the Margaret Polak Collection, sold in these rooms, 24
March, 2010, lot 122.

御製變色粉料白菜形鼻煙壺

34 | BONHAMS