Page 110 - Ruth and Carl Barron Snuff Bottles September 2016

Ť577
A FAMILLE ROSE-ENAMELED WHITE GLASS SNUFF
BOTTLE
SIGNED WU YUCHUAN, 1767-1799
The opaque glass bottle is decorated with flowering chrysanthemum
and aster growing around a blue rock, with two seals in red reading
shan gao (‘as tall as the mountains’) and Wu Yuchuan, and a small leaf-
shape seal. The base is painted with an illegible three-character mark.

28 in. (7.2 cm.) high, pink tourmaline stopper

$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE

Galerie Bertrand de Lavergne, Paris, 2011.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2011.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 5238.

Enameled glass snuff bottles with the signature Wu Yuchuan are a third seal, zhong he (‘Central Peace’) appears on Wu’s bottles,
discussed by the authors Moss, Graham, Tsang, in A Treasury such as on two examples from the J&J Collection, Part V, sold at
of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, Christie’s New York, 17 September 2008, lots 17 and 75. For a full
Volume 6, Part I, Hong Kong, 2008, pp. 195-198, where it is noted discussion of the artist and his connections to the palace see H.
that this group has connections to the ‘Hu Xuan’ group and the Moss, “Mysteries of the Ancient Moon,” JICSBS, Spring 2006,
Guyue Xuan group as a whole. While the ‘Hu Xuan’ group appears pp. 23-27, where a number of his signed bottles are illustrated.
to a name derived from Guyue Xuan, and not an individual, Wu
Yuchuan was an enameler who most likely began his training in Wu Yuchuan’s works are characterized by the inclusion of lotus
around 1767 in the palace (ibid., p. 197). Based on signed examples blossoms on his earlier bottles, a simplified color palette, and the
of his work, he appears to have been active, probably at court, addition of seals, inscriptions and his signature, and occasionally
during the second half of the Qianlong reign. a Guyue Xuan or Qianlong mark. The composition of the present
bottle is somewhat unusual within Wu Yuchuan’s known
The seals on this bottle, Wu Yuchuan and shan gao, also appear pieces. Instead of lotus flowers beneath a decorative border,
on other bottles by the artist, including a blue-glass example chrysanthemums and aster flowers grow from a blue rock and are
from the Mary and George Bloch Collection, which also bears a balanced by the two red seals, as well as a red leaf-shaped seal
Guyue Xuan mark on the base (see ibid., p. 195, no. 1092). Shan above that was also used by the artist. A similar combination of
gao (‘As tall as the mountains’) is a popular wish for longevity and flowers can be found on another Wu Yuchan bottle illustrated in
happiness, and also appears in association with other imperial ibid., fig. 23, p. 25 (lower right).
inscriptions on Qianlong-period painted enamel wares. Sometimes
䍆⎉蒗䉃栦邘⥶蔶∇袐虈蚔㌒⒢⥘聖㌉

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