Lot 147

Lot 147
Treasury 7, no.1707 (‘Butterfly Twins’)
HK$56,250

A lac-burgauté 'butterfly' snuff bottle

Brass, gold and silver foil, abalone shell, and black lacquer (of the variety known as lac-burgauté); with a flat lip and naturalistic foot made up of elements of the form; in the shape of a formalized butterfly; decorated with an inlaid design of abalone shell and gold and silver foil on a black lacquer ground with realistic elements giving way to abstract floral diaper patterns, with some areas of speckling of abalone shell; the flat, narrow sides with formalized flower heads on a speckled abalone shell ground; the neck with a band of strips of abalone shell between bands of silver foil
Japan, 1854–1930, probably Tsuda Sōkan, 1890–1934
Height: 5.7 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.5/0.8 cm
Stopper: pearl; glass collar

Provenance:
Sotheby’s, London, 7 June 1990, lot 377
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 29 April 1992, lot 462

Published:
Treasury 7, no.1707

Lac-burgauté was developed as an art form mainly between the Song and the late Ming, but was taken up by Japanese artists later; it was also produced for both the Japanese and the Chinese market in the Ryukyu Islands off the east coast of China. The more colourful shell is derived mostly from the abalone (Haliotis family, among which is Haliotis japonica), also known as ‘sea-shell ear’ because of its shape.

There are two main groups of butterfly-shaped snuff bottles. The first follows this general shape, with the inlay depicting the real insect, albeit abstracted, with two butterflies, one on each side, each shown with the upper body spread out like a specimen. The second is of butterfly shape, but the decoration is entirely unrelated to the insect (see, for instance, Stevens 1973, p. 44, centre left). The likely evolution is that those with the butterfly form and decoration preceded those with other decoration. A third group came later, perhaps in the 1920–1950 period, where the butterfly shape is also embellished with relief decoration of various other materials in the Tsuda style, but without lac-burgauté work; this is usually of second-rate quality and by the anonymous lesser workshops producing embellished works.

The bottles in the earlier group, represented by this one, vary in shape. This is the wider version; others are more compact, with a shorter wingspan. But there is a common feature to them, which is that the butterfly stands on the tailed wings and has a double bulge at the shoulders that represents the curve of the antennae and the space between these and the leading edge of the wings.

The construction method of this group, noted by Stevens in his article, seems to be consistent. Storage capacity was not a consideration in the minds of the makers. If the two main sides and the shaped edge had simply been soldered together, leaving the inside empty, there would have been plenty of room to hold enough snuff to please the serious snuffer. But instead, there is a separate, quite narrow compartment soldered inside and linking the two main sides; it is set a little to either side of the mouth, and its base joins the body just outside the tips of the swallow-tails. This interior cavity is only about 1.6 cm wide, severely restricting the volume of snuff that could be carried—but it does reinforce the body of the snuff bottle so it is less susceptible to crushing.

For comparisons with other examples, see the commentary on this bottle in Treasury 7.