Lot 245
Treasury 5, no. 980 (‘Hidden Character’)
HK$262,500

Transparent ruby-red, sapphire-blue, yellow, semi-transparent turquoise- blue, brown-streaked green, and milky glass, all with scattered air bubbles of various sizes; with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding rounded footrim; carved as a single overlay with a continuous rocky ground, one main side with a bat holding a beribboned fylfot in its mouth flying above a pine tree, suggesting the form of the character shou (‘longevity’), the other with a blossoming prunus tree and bamboo, suggesting the form of the character fu (‘happiness’), with two further bats positioned to stand for handles, one with a lingzhi in its mouth, the other with a branch with two peaches
1740-1820
Height: 5.82 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.85/1.49 cm
Stopper: jadeite

Provenance:
Sotheby’s, New York, 3 June 1992, lot 369

Published:
JICSBS, Autumn, 1992, p. 24, fig. 4
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 114
Treasury 5, no. 980

Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, March-June 1994
National Museum, Singapore, November 1994-February 1995

This lovely, five-colour single overlay is another that reminds us that we are still desperately short of information about schools of carving. Independently, we would tend to date it to the Qianlong period, although, in view of the slightly uneven ground plane, we might opt for the second half of the reign. Such an assumption might excite scant dissent - until we compare this bottle with another in the collection, Treasury 5, no. 1040, attributable to Yangzhou, and unlikely to have been made until the last decade of the eighteenth century at the earliest. Both display very similar overlay colours, including streaked green, a distinctive golden yellow, pale turquoise, vivid sapphire blue, and ruby red. Their carving is conceptually and technically similar, featuring a convoluted rock formation pierced with holes.

The courtly connection of this example extends to the use of designs to suggest characters, which also occurs in the series of highly imperial bottles represented by Sale 4, lots 41 and 66, and Sale 5, lot 34. These display a similar style of carving, although of completely different subjects.

This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.