Page 59 - Bloch-4

jiachen, following the method of Hua Yishan, for the worthy examination of

the honourable Provincial Treasurer Kong An,' with one seal of the artist, Erzhong,

in negative seal script

Ding Erzhong, Nanjing, winter, 1904

Stopper tourmaline; vinyl collar

The source of the 'Nine Likenesses' is 'Heaven's Blessings,' a poem collected in

Shijing (`The Book of Songs'). The two stanzas that refer to the 'Nine Likenesses' are as follows and as translated by Arthur Waley (pp. 175-6):

May Heaven guard and keep you,

Cause there to be nothing in which you do not rise higher, Like the mountains, like the uplands, Like the ridges, the great ranges, Like a stream coming down in flood; In nothing not increased.

Provenance:

Arts of China, Hong Kong (1985)

Published:

Ceramics, May€June 1986, p. 142, fig. 4

Kleiner, The Bloch Collection, no. 263

JICSBS, Spring 1988, front cover

Les plus belles collections priv‚es de Hong Kong, p. 11

Chinese Snuff Bottles. A Miniature Art,

no. 306

British Museum, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, no. 394

Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch (illustrated folder), Jerusalem Museum, Israel, July 1997

Exhibited:

Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987

Galeries Lafayette, Paris, April 1990 Creditanstalt, Vienna, May€June 1993 Hong Kong Museum of Art, March€June 1994

National Museum, Singapore, November 1994€February 1995 British Museum, London, June€November 1995 Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July€November 1997