Lot 251
Treasury 6, no. 1343 (‘Woven Connection’)
HK$50,000

Crackled, transparent golden-yellow glaze on porcelain; with a wide mouth, flat lip, and no foot; moulded in the form of a basket with a bamboo frame supporting the woven areas and a rope-like band dividing the woven section from the plain neck, all exterior surfaces, including the lip and part of the inner neck, covered with yellow glaze; the interior unglazed
Possibly 1800–1860
Height: 6.83 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.65/1.25 cm
Stopper: glass

Provenance:
John Ault, June 2005
Robert Kleiner, June 2005

Published:
Treasury 6, no. 1343

Most basket-weave bottles simulate a container wrapped in a protective covering typical of those used to protect large storage jars to hold liquids. Here, however, the entire form is obviously intended to copy a basket rather than a protected container. It has the typical rigid bamboo sides from which a basket might be constructed. The shape is somewhat unusual, so even if an original basket form inspired this bottle, it has no doubt been modified in order to function conveniently as a snuff bottle.

Where the amber-yellow glaze on this bottle, with its extensive original crackling, is worn through from use, we can see that it is obviously on normal white porcelain. Another point to note is that this bottle is not glazed inside. Although by the Daoguang period it had become standard to glaze the inside of porcelain bottles, there were exceptions. The narrow mouth here, which makes it impossible to judge whether the inside is glazed or not without an interior light source, may have prompted the maker to economize.

Given the popularity of the basket-weave design during the mid-Qing period, it is perhaps strange that there are not many more such inventive variant shapes as this, based upon real baskets rather than protective containers. This one remains a unique form, as far as we are aware. The form works very well as a snuff bottle and makes a pleasant change from the standard basket-weave design that must have been so often repeated by the time this bottle was made. With a form such as this, the possibility is raised that some of these basket designs were based upon the lidded creel that a fisherman would tie around his waist to store his catch. Viewed in this light, the design would also evoke ideas of success and abundance.

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.