Lot 1126
Treasury 5, no.852 (‘Emerald Fortune’)
HK$31,250

Transparent slightly bluish emerald-green glass with a few scattered small air bubbles; very well hollowed; with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding flat foot rim; carved on one main side with a butterfly above a flowering plant growing behind a rocky outcrop and on the other with two bats flying above a lingzhi fungus growing behind a similarly rocky outcrop, the narrow sides carved with mask-and-ring handles
1760-1850
Height: 5.93 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.68/1.42 cm
Stopper: rose-quartz

Provenance:
Jade House, Hong Kong (1985)

Published:
Treasury 5, no.852

Snuff bottles in this colour of glass are rarely carved from solid blocks, probably because no real sapphire bottle of this size would have existed, and therefore there was no need to emulate or imitate such a bottle. Sale 6, lot 201 is a parallel example in sapphire blue. Both bottles have roughened interiors, but the most telling indication of a mid-Qing period (as opposed to the Qianlong designation the excellent carving might justify) is provided by the style of the mask-and-ring handles. Beneath typically courtly taotie heads we find exaggeratedly long oval rings visually filling the narrow sides. These rings tend to be circular from the first half of the eighteenth century; the elongated form appears to have proliferated in the nineteenth century, having evolved, probably from the mid-Qing period through the second half of the Qianlong era and into the Daoguang era. (Of course, the older standard would have persisted as an option; plenty of small circular rings appear on bottles we can confidently attribute to the nineteenth century.)

The finishing of the ground plane here is perfect, and the quality of the carving is fine. But that does not guarantee an origin in the imperial workshops, as many artisans outside the court were capable of producing the best when patrons demanded the best.

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.