Page 55 - 2020 October 8 Snuff Bottles

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This is the largest known, and one of the most elaborate, of a series A FAMILLE ROSE PORCELAIN‘SCHOLAR’ SNUFF
of snuff bottles from the nineteenth century imitating wine jars in BOTTLE
protective basketwork. QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN IRON RED IN A
The characters on the bottle represent pieces in Chinese chess. There SQUARE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
are some anomalies, however. Shuai 帥 (‘General’) is miswritten as shi The bottle is decorated with a raised panel on each side,
師 (a word that can refer to soldiers but is not the name of a chess
piece); moreover, while shuai normally is used only for the General on two panels depicting scholars in landscape, two panels with
the red side, this bottle uses the name in both colours. Similarly, for blossoming flowers. Together with a famille rose porcelain dish
Elephants, Cannons, and Soldiers, only the names of the red team decorated with flowers and inscribed on the base with a Guangxu
(xiang 相、pao 炮、bing 兵) are used on this bottle, not the names for six-character reign mark.
the corresponding black pieces (xiang 象、pao 砲、zu 卒). Perhaps the Bottle: 25 in. (6.6 cm.) high, porcelain stopper;
designer of this bottle understood that a simple array of all the names
of the fourteen pieces in black and red would be too sober for a wine Dish: 1Ω in. (3.9 cm.) diam. (2)
jar—less interesting than a random pattern that is reminiscent of the
board game. HK$120,000-240,000 US$16,000-31,000
PROVENANCE
清1810-1880年 五彩印圍棋竹籃紋梅瓶式鼻煙壺 Bottle: Robert Hall, London
The Ferrari Collection
（連鬥彩蟠桃紋鼻煙碟） Robert Hall, London, September 2012
Dish: C. K. Liang, Jade House, Hong Kong, October 2003
來源
壺：亞洲珍藏，倫敦蘇富比，2003年6月13日，拍品815號
碟：Wilson珍藏，紐約蘇富比，1998年3月23日，拍品272號 清乾隆 粉彩礬紅開光高士圖鼻煙壺
礬紅方框四字篆書款（連「大清光緒年製」款
出版 粉彩花卉紋鼻煙碟）
壺：莫士撝、薩進德，《水松石山房鼻煙壺珍藏：第二部 鼻
煙壺美術中所見皇宮風趣以外的因素》，香港，2019年，編 來源
號21.3.466 壺：Robert Hall珍藏，倫敦
Ferrari珍藏
Robert Hall珍藏，倫敦，2012年9月
碟：C. K. Liang, Jade House，香港，2003年10月

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