Lot 1022
Treasury 5, no.1004 (‘Stubborn Emolument’)
HK$300,000

Translucent milky white glass, transparent ruby-red glass, and semi-transparent greyish milky white glass, with scattered small air bubbles; with a flat lip and recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding flattened foot rim; carved as a double overlay with a continuous rocky landscape scene with a pine tree, blossoming prunus tree, and bamboo, one main side with a boy trying to coax a donkey across a stone bridge over a stream, the other with an old man holding a walking staff and his servant carrying his qin as they stroll along a perforated rocky bank, the neck with a band of pendant formalized plantain leaves
1780-1820
Height: 6.26 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.70/1.66 cm
Stopper: jadeite; silver collar

Provenance:
Robert Hall (1993)

Published:
Kleiner 1995, no.164
Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch (illustrated folder), Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July 1997
Treasury 5, no.1004

Exhibited:
British Museum, London, June-October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July-November 1997

From the same hand as lot 1031 >in this auction and lot 7 in Sale 5, this exhibits a bamboo middle layer similar to the latter, with the plant spread out as a design as much as a depiction of bamboo. The pine needle clusters here offer an interesting contrast, since the artist has taken a little more care to vary them slightly. Alongside standard circular clusters rounded at the edges, which appear on the standard versions of the school, we find the cluster directly above the halter of the donkey hanging downward like a besom. Another, while of standard design, is set behind the twig on one narrow side, thus providing another touch of variety within the standard composition. The trunk is endowed with careful detailing, probably a natural response to the larger scale of the tree, which makes it more visually demanding. Similarly, we find the larger figures are rather more carefully detailed than the standard smaller ones. Another characteristic of the group featured here is the prunus tree shown on the upper plane of carving. The flowers are formally laid out, mostly full-face and with the usual five petals, each of which is neatly scalloped to give the impression of a raised edge. When the prunus forms the middle layer, as on Sale 5, lot 7, the artist did not bother with the scalloping.

On the plantain-leaf necks on this bottle, lot 1031 in this auction, and lot 7 in Sale 5, an outer layer of leaves overlaps an inner one with four leaves in each layer. They are evenly distributed, one of the upper register of leaves appearing on each main side and one on each narrow side. Despite this common feature of the three bottles, this is the only one on which the concentric circles of different colour at the neck are carelessly controlled and elliptical (see top view).

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.