Page 122 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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498 499
A CARNELIAN SNUFF BOTTLE A ROCK CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE
1780-1880 1750-1850
Of ovoid shape, well carved in low relief in a continuous scene with a Of rounded rectangular shape, supported on a neatly finished oval
warrior on horseback on one side and a vendor wheeling a cart to the foot, the material almost flawless and well hollowed; stopper.
other, all reserved on an unusual incised diaper ground and a cloud- 2 5/8in (6.7cm) high
like lappet around the shoulder; stopper.
2in (5.1cm) high $2,500 - 3,500
$1,200 - 1,800 1750-1850 素面水晶鼻煙壺

1780-1880 紅玉髓刻雷紋背景人物圖鼻煙壺 Provenance:
Ralph Hult Collection
Provenance: The Kardos Collection, Vancouver
White Wings Collection Sotheby’s, New York, The Kardos Collection, 1 July 1985, lot 89
Robert Kleiner, The White Wings Collection, 25 October 2004
See Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the
The depiction of vendor wheeling a cart, known as a street peddler Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. 1, p. 176, no. 97,
(houlang) is, surprisingly, a subject seldom seen on snuff bottles. where the authors discuss similarly-shaped crystal bottles. They
Considering its popularity in Chinese paintings from the Song dynasty note that it would be a mistake to simply see this type of bottle as an
onwards, this peculiar lapse is curious. The street vending economy uninspired plain flattened rounded rectangular type (a form commonly
prospered and matured during the Tang and Song dynasties, but really found and therefore seemingly pedestrian, an impression perhaps
only began to appear in poetry, drama and paintings during the Song. augmented by the fact that so many inside-painted bottles are of this
A number of famous Song paintings of the subject are housed today form). However close inspection, as in this case, reveals a superbly
in the Palace museum collections. It was a subject visited many times made bottle, of faultless formal integrity, that is well hollowed and a
by the painters of the later Ming and Qing dynasties, but not it seems, brilliant clear material.
promulgated by the makers of snuff bottles.
For another crystal of flawless clarity, formerly in the Edward Choate
In our bottle the reverse side of the bottle appears to depict a warrior O’Dell Collection, see Ning Wang, Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles from the
on horseback and in combination with the street peddler, it is almost Richard F. Kuenkler Collection, Beijing, 2007, p. 31, no. 32.
certainly a reference to a particular tale from one of the popular
‘Romance’ stories.

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