Page 60 - September 21 2021 Curtis collections snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

654 655

654 655
A WHITE JADE SNUFF BOTTLE WITH FLORAL MEDALLIONS A SMALL RECTANGULAR ‘PANELED’ WHITE JADE SNUFF
1730-1820 BOTTLE
Of flattened tapering baluster shape, the body carved with eight 1750-1850
circular medallions, two overlapping, each with differing petal-form Of tapering rectangular shape, the main faces plain and softly
designs, standing on a shallow-scooped oval foot, the color of even chamfered at the paneled edges, the narrow sides delicately carved
tone throughout. with superbly executed lion-mask fixed-ring handles, supported on a
2 1/2in (6.3cm) high, stopper rounded rectangular raised foot.
2 1/8in (5.4cm) high, stopper
$2,000 - 3,000
$1,000 - 1,500
1780-1820年 白玉團花紋鼻煙壺

For an almost identical bottle both in shape and decoration, see 1750-1850年 白玉雕舖首銜環鼻煙壺
Christie’s, New York, 17-18th March 2016, lot 1700. Described as
probably Imperial and probably Palace Workshops, Beijing, the bottle Provenance:
had been in the collection of Enid and Brodie Lodge (1880-1967). It is Acquired in San Francisco, November, 1998
highly unusual to find this design on a jade snuff bottle, though several
glass overlay and porcelain bottles do carry this form of decoration. It
is more often encountered in Imperial ‘famille rose’ porcelain vessels
(bowls and jars) from the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods. For an
example see Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, The
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong,
2008, p. 248, no. 227.

For a similar flattened oviform jade bottle, presumably made for the
Court, see Snuff Bottles from the Collection of the National Palace
Museum, Taipei, 1991, p. 155, nos. 135. Three others, of cylindrical
form but with comparable high shoulders, are illustrated, p. 151, nos.
124-26.

The flowerhead roundels appear to derive their origins from a
Japanese aesthetic of heraldic symbols (mon), seen primarily in
lacquerware and textiles. The use of these symbols in kosometsuke
ceramics of the late Ming is well known.
58 | BONHAMS