Page 70 - The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part I
P. 70
288 This exquisitely carved bottle is part of a small group created in the late
A RARE AND FINELY CARVED WHITE AND BLUE-OVERLAY WHITE eighteenth century and continuing, perhaps, into the early nineteenth
GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE century. All are designed with two colors of overlay on a white ground. The
POSSIBLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1760-1790 two planes of overlay are distinctly carved and also overlap; the inner plane
generally with a ground pattern, the outer plane with a mythological or
The translucent white and transparent sapphire-blue glass overlays are narrative subject.
carved through to the translucent white body with a continuous scene
of a scholar riding a donkey across a bridge, possibly Meng Haoren, The present example can be compared with one of the earlier examples
accompanied by a young attendant carrying a vase holding a prunus in this group, an exceptional and rare white and blue-overlay white glass
branch, all beneath arching prunus trees. The other side is decorated bottle in the Bloch Collection, decorated with a dynamic design of two
with a scene of a scholar sitting at the window of a pavilion watching dragons on a ground of waves and clouds, 1760-1790 (see Moss, Graham,
his attendant sweep the terrace. The blue overlay beneath is carved Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch
with clouds billowing through bamboo and prunus trees. Collection, Volume 5, Part 3, Hong Kong, 2002, pp. 675-676, no. 1001).
3º in. (8.2 cm.) high, glass stopper The authors note the masterly balance of the overlays, which is evident
on the present example, as well as the incredible technical control of
$15,000-20,000 the carver. While the two bottles differ in subject, they share a stunning
concept of design as well as superb execution.
PROVENANCE:
For other examples and a discussion of this group see ibid., pp. 680-685,
Sotheby’s London, 23 March 1988, lot 290. nos. 1003-1005. Also see another related blue and white overlay example
Bentley Collection, London. most likely from the same group, also depicting Meng Haoren but on
Asian Art Studio, Los Angeles, California. a simpler ground than the present example, in the collection of Dennis
Robert Kleiner, London, 2008. Low and illustrated by D. Low in More Treasures from the Sanctum of
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 4855. Enlightened Respect, Hong Kong, 2002, p. 148, no. 137.
EXHIBITED: Meng Haoren was reputed to have a particular admiration of prunus
blossoms and many depictions of the poet depict the theme of taxue
Boston, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, xunmei (‘Searching for prunus in the snow’). For a discussion of Meng
Asian Art Studio, September 2008. Haoren see Ka Bo Tsang, “Who is the Rider on the Donkey?”, JICSBS,
Summer, 1994, pp. 4-16, fg. 14.
LITERATURE:
1760-1790年 涅白地套藍白玻璃「踏雪尋梅」圖鼻煙壺
Clare and Michael Chu, The Bentley Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles,
Los Angeles, 2008, p. 28.
(additional views)
68
