Page 84 - Christie's Chinese Snuff Bottled the Holden Collection March 24, 2022

~867
A PAINTED ENAMEL SNUFF BOTTLE
IMPERIAL, GUANGZHOU WORKSHOPS, QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER MARK IN BLUE AND OF THE
PERIOD (1736-1795)
The bottle is decorated with a continuous landscape. On one side two ladies gather flowers in a basket and
gaze suspiciously at a barking dog nearby, and on the other side a lady approaches a boy kneeling to attend to
the flowers he has gathered in a basket.
21 in. (5.1 cm.) high, coral and pearl stopper
$15,000-25,000

PROVENANCE:
Bob C. Stevens Collection.
The Bob C. Stevens Collection of Fine and Important Chinese Snuff Bottles, Part II; Sotheby’s New York,
26 March 1982, lot 84.
Rachelle R. Holden Collection, New York.
EXHIBITED:
Tokyo, Mikimoto Hall, An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles From The Bob C. Stevens Collection, 22-31
October 1978, cat. no. 360.

LITERATURE:
JICSBS, March 1980, p. 14, fig. 5.
This bottle is one of a group of Imperial wares produced in Guangzhou during the Qianlong period.
The Guangzhou enamelers regularly employed techniques of the Palace workshops, such as the use of
stippled areas where a series of minute dots provides gradation in the colors, or a ground color, as seen
here in the green trees. These stylistic similarities arose for two main reasons: Guangzhou enamelers were
occasionally seconded to the Palace workshops for a number of years, and Jesuit enamelers often spent
lengthy periods in Guangzhou awaiting permission to proceed north after their arrival, spending time
demonstrating their skills to local craftsmen and imparting some elements of their style to Guangzhou
workshops. The current snuff bottle reflects the fascination of the Qianlong Emperor with Western
subjects, which appear on both porcelain and metal enameled wares produced during his reign.

For another 'European subject' bottle decorated with figures in an outdoor setting, see Snuff Bottles from
the Tuyet Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter Collection Part I, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 June 2021, lot 1012.

For other Guangzhou enamel bottles decorated with a variety of subjects, and a discussion of the origin
of the art form in Guangzhou, see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and
George Bloch Collection, Volume 6, Part 1, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 276-309, nos. 1124-1137.

清乾隆 御製廣作銅胎畫琺瑯西洋人物圖鼻煙壺 藍彩四字楷書款

來源:
Bob C. Stevens珍藏
Bob C. Stevens珍藏重要中國鼻煙壺 (第二部分), 紐約蘇富比, 1982年3月26日, 拍品編號84
Rachelle R. Holden珍藏, 紐約
展覽:
東京御木本會館, 「Bob C. Stevens珍藏中國鼻煙壺」, 1978年10月22至31日, 圖錄編號360
出版:
《國際中國鼻煙壺協會學術期刊》, 1980年3月, 頁14, 圖5

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