Lot 113

Lot 113

Treasury 7, no. 1593

HK$312,000

Palace Gourds

Variegated transparent brown amber with some almost-black markings, with extensive crizzling; with a naturalistic foot made up of elements of the design; carved in the form of a gourd of irregular form with a severed leafy branch holding another, smaller gourd
Probably imperial, 1730–1800
Height: 7.6 cm
Mouth: 0.71 cm
Stopper: Coral, carved as a stalk



Lot 113 Provenance:
Wang Ning, Beijing (2005)
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd. (2005)

Published:
Treasury 7, no. 1593

Lot 113 Commentary:
Gourds and other fruits were a popular subject for snuff bottles made at, or for the court during the eighteenth century (for a discussion on this form, see Treasury 1, no. 62). Many of the type still remain in the imperial collection. Although nephrite seems to have been the favourite material for the group, there are a few known in amber which are of similar size, form and quality of carving, and which may be part of a broader group. With the well-known group of white jade animal-form snuff bottles of the mid-Qing, we know that amber equivalents were also made (see under Treasury 7, no. 1597 and, for the jade versions, Treasury 1, nos. 61-72), so there is no reason why the same should not have been true of a group of fruit-form bottles. Such stylistic similarities across a range of materials are a frequent indication of imperial production given the multiple artistic skills of the palace workshops. As with the animal group, the amber examples are much rarer among fruit-form bottles, but this may have as much to do with the relative fragility of the material as with original production ratios. The proportion of amber bottles surviving from the eighteenth century is bound to be much smaller than the proportion of nephrite bottles. At their best, these fruit-form bottles are spectacular in any material. They represent the height of naturalistic carving from the eighteenth century, and this magnificent amber version is no exception.

Amber is a delicate material to work and if hollowed out too thinly becomes even more susceptible to damage. Although they are often well-hollowed in the sense of having perfectly finished interiors, they are often left with relatively thick walls. Quite apart from giving the bottle additional strength, this also accentuates the lovely colours of the transparent variety which would decrease with more extensive hollowing, just as semi-precious stone bottles become paler in colour the more material is removed from the inside. Offsetting the fragility of the material, however, transparent amber has the advantage that the craftsman can see through the walls of the bottle, which greatly facilitates extensive hollowing and a perfect finish. Working with nephrite, it is necessary to judge by other means how close to the outer wall the hollowing is reaching, whereas with a transparent material the carver can see what he is doing on the inside of the bottle. Here the craftsman who hollowed the bottle, who may not have been the same one who carved the design given the division of labour in a typical Chinese workshop, has decided to go for extreme hollowing, making this one of the thinnest known of all the fruit-form bottles in this, or any other material. He has also perfectly matched the interior smoothness and polish to that of the exterior.

However impressive the hollowing, it is the carving and painstaking polishing of the main design that makes this a transcendent masterpiece. The artist has cleverly matched the plain, perfectly smooth and slightly irregular surface of the two fruits themselves, with a more complex, busier design of branches and leaves. It is breathtaking, not only in its composition, which is calligraphically graceful, but in its technical fluency and delightfully tactile, well smoothed surface. The slight variations in colour of the material have also been used with subtle skill, with some darker streaking defining the smaller fruit and the light refraction from a single, natural stress-flaw in the material cleverly used to define one edge of a series of three leaves near the mouth of the bottle, suggesting light reflecting off the edge of the leaves as the bottle is turned in the hand.
Very few early amber snuff bottles have survived in entirely perfect condition. It may have been the extraordinary artistry of this bottle that encouraged its succession of owners to take great care of it, or just good fortune, but it has come down to us in unusually good condition.

The colour here is typical of burmite, the type of amber for which the main source for the Chinese was Burma. This type of transparent, brown amber was a popular favourite at court, as no doubt elsewhere, and seems to have been an ideal throughout the Qing dynasty.

For another amber bottle of similar subject, also of lovely material and superb carving, although a little more detailed in its style, see Lawrence 1996, no. 26. Another, slightly broader than the Monimar in style, and a little closer to this one, also of superb quality, is in Hamilton 1977, p. 7, no. O.14