Lot 1149
Treasury 1, no. 96 (‘The Jesuits’ Lost Argument’)
HK$400,000

Nephrite; very well hollowed; with a recessed foot; carved on each side with an
identical design of a centralized medallion made up of four formalized lingzhi-heads set within an equally formalized petal motif, the edges of which are curled over in four places to echo the lingzhi-head motifs at the centre, the narrow sides with mask-and-ring handles
Probably imperial, attributable to the palace workshops, Beijing, 1736–1800
Height: 5.39 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.52/1.85 cm
Stopper: glass; gilt-silver collar

Provenance:
Antaeus Gallery (New York, 1980)
Gerd Lester (1986)

Published:
Kleiner 1987, no. 27
Treasury 1, no. 96

Exhibited:
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997

At least seven white nephrite snuff bottles are known with a similar design, although some lack the mask-and-ring handles (Fuller 1970, no. 54; Sotheby’s, New York, 3 November 1982, lot 133; Sotheby’s, London, 13 October 1987, lot 127; Sotheby’s, New York, 22 November 1988, lot 299; Hui, Polak, and Sin 1991, no. 273, and Rachelle Holden 1994, no. 112). A single example from the group in emerald-green jadeite was also exhibited at the Honolulu Academy of Arts for the 1994 annual convention of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society.

It has been suggested that the design in the central medallion represents the keys of St. Peter. However, the overall design is quite clearly a highly formalized grouping of four lingzhi heads into which is set a medallion that repeats the lingzhi-head motif in a less flamboyant pattern. There may be some influence from Han-dynasty tile ends (circular antefixes), which are generally divided into quadrants and sometimes have similar lingzhi-head designs; and there may be some influence from European shell designs in the treatment of the elements between the outer lingzhi heads. This influence would probably not come directly from Jesuit missionaries, as there is no evidence of Jesuit involvement in jade carving.
Bona fide Western motifs from the palace workshops are largely confined to the areas of Jesuit expertise, such as architecture, astronomical instruments, glass manufacture, enamelling, print-making, and realistic painting and drawing. There seems to be no indication whatsoever, either in the records or from the large number of extant pieces, that the Jesuits were in any way involved in the traditional art of jade carving.

Shell designs from the Jesuit-designed fountains and buildings of the Yuanming yuan west of Beijing could have been the inspiration for those shell-like motifs, however, and that would be one of several factors encouraging an attribution to the palace workshops, for it would have been unlikely to have happened elsewhere in the empire. The style of carving is also consistent with a Beijing attribution, and the type of mask handles, with their curl-edged pates, is consistent with those found on a range of glass bottles that can be attributed to the workshops serving the Imperial Household Department. The type of white jade, with flecks of chalkier white on one shoulder and one side of the neck, is also consistent with other jade carvings attributable to the court. The most telling evidence of a palace source for this bottle, however, is to be found in the existence of an exact duplicate of the design in ruby-red glass (see JICSBS, Winter, 1986, back cover). It is often an indication of a palace source when glass and jade, both of which were carved by the same craftsmen in the same workshop at the palace, appear with identical designs. The dating to the latter part of the Qianlong period is suggested by the existence in the group of an equally well-carved emerald-green jadeite example, which is unlikely to have been carved much before the last quarter of the eighteenth century.

So distracted have we become with the art-historical significance and design symbolism of this bottle that we are in danger of missing the art, without which the symbolism would command little attention. Regardless of the meaning of the subject, the bottle is a masterpiece of jade carving that is technically unsurpassed and artistically faultless. The design is superbly conceived, with the inner medallion echoed exactly by the outer, but less formally. The technical mastery is also apparent in the mask-and-ring handles which are exquisitely carved and perfectly separated from the ground plane.

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.