The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 284

284
**AN UNUSUAL RED OVERLAY “SNOWSTORM” GROUND SNUFF
BOTTLE
PROBABLY IMPERIAL, PROBABLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING,
1740-1780
Of flattened form with a wide mouth, flat lip and foot and partial footrim made up of elements of the design, finely carved through the transparent red overlay with a continuous design of two carp, one on each main side, and aquatic plants above a lotus leaf wrapped around the base, the stem of the lotus leaf forming the partial footrim, pearlized glass stopper with turquoise-glass collar
6.4 cm. high
$4,000-6,000

P R O V E N A N C E :
Edmund Dwyer.
Robert Hall, London.
Robert Hall-Jutheau Auction, International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Auction,
Boston, October 1991.

E X H I B I T E D :
Robert Hall, London, “Chinese Snuff Bottles IV”, 1991, no. 116.
L I T E R A T U R E :

Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles IV, London, 1991, no. 116.

The lotus (he) leaf wrapped around (bao) a big (da) carp (liyu) is a rebus for hebao dali (May your purse be filled with good profits). Alternatively, the same subject of a lotus (also known as lian) leaf wrapped around a fish (yu) may remind one of the saying liannian youyu (May you have plenty year after year). A popular mid-Qing motif, this design is seen on a variety of glass overlay bottles. See a similar red overlay example in H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, no. 207; and two comparable snuff bottles in H. White, Snuff Bottles from China. The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, p. 184, fig. 3 and p. 190, fig. 1.

The Meriem Collection Part II. Lot 284