Lot 101
Treasury 1, no. 100 (‘The Emperor’s Dragon Cylinder’)
HK$225,000

Flawless nephrite; the inner lip rim flanged, with a recessed circular foot; carved with a continuous design of two chi dragons head to head, one with a lingzhi in its mouth, the neck with a band of formalized scrolling floral design
Probably imperial, attributable to the palace workshops, Beijing, 1736–1799
Height: 5.81 cm
Mouth/lip: 1.02/1.95 cm
Stopper: flawless nephrite; carved with a coiled chi dragon, its head forming the finial, the broad integral collar with a band of formalized scrolling floral design, and with an integral ‘cork’ shaped somewhat like an inverted mushroom; original

Provenance:
Johanna Krug
Robert Hall (1993)

Published:
Krug 1967, Plate XVII, no. 101
Kleiner 1995, no. 53
Treasury 1, no. 100

Exhibited:
British Museum, June–October 1995

This appears to be another unique form from the Beijing palace workshops. It has the chi dragons so popular at court, the adequate hollowing through a wide mouth (here almost as wide as the inner cylinder of the bottle), a heavy base produced by stopping the hollowing process well short of the foot, and a very unusual form. The stopper, which is original, also has a uniquely shaped integral nephrite ‘cork’ with a small space between the cork and the neck of the bottle to allow for a real cork gasket, which seems to have been so carefully fitted to the jade cork that it matched its profile exactly, giving a strong seal.

Another intriguing feature is that the stopper has been conceived as a typical Beijing palace stopper, even though it is part of the design of the main bottle. The raised head of the dragon is set directly in the middle and raised to act as a finial; its position reminds one of the dragon surmounts on an imperial seal. The band of formalized scrolling flowers, exactly matching that of the neck of the bottle, acts as an integral collar.

As a rule, when we identify a snuff bottle as ‘Qianlong’, we are considering the Qianlong period to have ended only in early 1799, when the emperor died; this makes the Qianlong artistic period three years longer than the calendrical Qianlong era that ended in early 1796, when he abdicated. (His abdication year is sometimes given as 1795, but his reign ended at the end of the Chinese year, which was over a month into 1796 on the Western calendar.) Anything that is of Qianlong style and taste could have been made under his orders until 1799, for he still had enormous influence in artistic matters. Thus, our dating range for this snuff bottle, 1736 – 1799, corresponds to the period when his taste had direct influence on the palace workshops.

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.