Page 176 - September 20 2021 Chinese Works of Art Bonhams NYC

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION
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A TRANSPARENT DARK RED GLASS SNUFF BOTTLE The name ‘Studio of Refined Amusement’ does not appear among
Wanyaxuan mark, 1720-1770 the many studios listed for eminent members of the influential classes,
The bottle of flattened baluster shape with faceted narrow edges, so adding to the uncertainty of production date and maker. However
the three-character studio name, Wan ya xuan (Studio of Refined an in-depth analysis of the group as a whole has been made by Hugh
Amusement) engraved to the lower section of one of the narrow sides, Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, in two major publications,
the rest of the bottle plain. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Vol. 2, 568-
2 7/16in (6.3cm) high, stopper 569, no. 337; and also in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The
Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 5, Part 1, Glass, pp. 212-217,
$8,000 - 12,000 no’s. 751-753, where the subject has been thoroughly dissected. In
summation, they firmly place the production date to the eighteenth
1720-1770年 紅料光素鼻煙壺 《玩雅軒》款 century and suggest that a private glass workshop, with possible royal
connections, may have produced them.
This bottle belongs to a large group, all which bear the studio name
Wanyaxuan, engraved, unusually, low on one of the narrow facetted For other examples in ruby-red glass of our slender baluster form, see
sides of a vessel of flattened slender baluster form. They appear to Moss et.al, ibid., no’s 751 and 752 (actually a red-brown); another
have been made in a wide range of colors, although ruby-red glass from the J & J Collection was sold at Christie’s, Hong Kong, 30 March
does seem to be the most ubiquitous. 2005, lot 87; and another was illustrated by Wang Ning, One Man’s
Choice IV, Hong Kong, 2011, p. 92, no. 59.

The closest example in size and shape to our bottle is the Bloch
example published by Moss et. al., op.cit, no. 752.

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