Lot 131
Treasury7, no. 1588 (‘Mystical Vapour’)
HK$75,000

Transparent golden-brown amber with streaks of darker brown and yellow, with surface crizzling; pebble-shaped without a defined foot; carved in low relief on one main side, using the natural colours in the material for emphasis, with a flying bat and a mythical animal looking up at it
The Amber Pebble Master, 1760–1860
Height: 5.78 cm
Mouth: 0.55 cm
Stopper: glass, carved as a twig or stalk

Provenance:
Jade House, Hong Kong (October 2003)
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd (2005)

Published:
Treasury 7, no. 1588

There is a small group of amber snuff bottles probably dating from the mid-Qing period that are always rewarding, particularly when in such good condition as this example. They are characterized by lovely use of the natural colouring in the material, pebble forms—usually variations on this soft, partly irregular ovoid shape—and sparse decoration consisting of mythical creatures. They are also characterized by irregular surfaces. The artist who produced them, for whom we have coined the title ‘Amber Pebble Master’, obviously valued purity of material over regularity of surface; he removed any blemishes he did not care to use, leaving frequent indentations in his works, as seen on both sides here. One finds such dimples on nearly all of his bottles, even on plain bottles from the same workshop (see, for instance, Sotheby’s, New York, 1 July 1985, lot 107). It is unlikely that damage and repair would account for them; one would have to chip each amber bottle repeatedly and purposefully to necessitate such fixes. Moreover, any such damage would usually result in star cracks that could not be easily removed by scooping out small areas. The most plausible reason for the indentations is therefore the presence of impurities in the amber that the Amble Pebble Master considered distracting.

The output of amber snuff bottles would have risen with the rapid increase in the demand for snuff bottles from the Kangxi into the mid Qing, but it also depended on supplies of amber. In the late Qianlong era, diplomatic relations with Burma were re-established after a long period of intermittent fighting, and trade relations were normalized in 1788. This would no doubt have increased the supplies of Burmese amber. However, amber also moved through India, Central Asia, and the Russian empire, with each trade route subject to fluctuating conditions. This makes it very difficult to date amber bottles, although a great many fine early amber bottles have survived, many of which must be from the Qianlong reign.

A characteristic of the artist or workshop responsible for this group of amber bottles is imaginative use of a range of often evocatively marked material. Here a lovely, pale golden-brown amber pebble is streaked with smoke-like threads of golden yellow (similar in colour to the distinctive material said to be from the Baltic and possibly suggesting a source for the original pebble). There are also some areas of slightly darker brown colouring. The artist has brilliantly used all of these to give his beast a darker body; the impression is also heightened by the higher relief at that point, where the material is thicker. The wings of the bat are also in the darker colour, and smoky streaks of yellow rise from the beast’s mouth to provide the mystical vapour in which the bat flies. It would seem that the artist had a superb sense of which blemishes to excise and which ones to exploit.

For others of the group, see the commentary to this bottle in Treasury 7.

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.