Lot 80 Lot 81 Lot 82 Lot 83 Lot 84 Lot 85 Lot 86

photographer E-Yaji.

The Mary and George Bloch Collection: Part II  
Bonham's, Hong Kong, 23 November 2010: Lot 83 

Lot 83

Lot 83
Treasury 1, no. 162

Flawless nephrite; very well hollowed, with a recessed foot
1740–1840
Height: 6.7 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.45/2.18 and 2.12 cm (oval)
Stopper: coral, reticulated and carved as a coiled chi dragon, made from half a bead; coral and plastic collars

Lot 83 Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd (Hong Kong, 1992)

Published:
Treasury 1, no. 162

Lot 83 Commentary
This is one of the most impressive of a group of bottles in different materials that are related by form: Treasury 1, nos. 154 (white nephrite) and 178 (green jadeite); Perry 1960, no. 81 (green jadeite); Stevens 1976, nos. 361 (yellow nephrite), 432 (green jadeite with black inclusions), 436 and 451 (green and white jadeite), and 458 (green jadeite); and Hamilton 1977, nos. J.37–J.40 (green and white jadeite). Very well hollowed through an exaggeratedly small mouth, the nephrite here is of flawless material that appears to be perfectly white until placed against white paper, when the slightly greenish tinge of even the whitest of jade becomes apparent. With bottles of this shape, the purity of the material was considered sufficiently appealing to allow it to speak eloquently for itself in a simple, plain form. Although the form is standard for the group—basically a rectangle with its corners and edges rounded that is set upon a broad, rounded rectangular foot and with a cylindrical neck—the shape here is a little larger than normal and slightly more bulbous, with a softer profile for the rounding of the rectangle.

We have dated the group to the mid-Qing period (from the mid-Qianlong to the end of the Daoguang period) on the assumptions that the very narrow mouth that so many of its members have did not become a standard feature until the Qianlong period and that most late eighteenth-century types would have continued in popularity into the first half of the nineteenth century. A few of the group bear suspicious Qianlong reign marks that were added to bottles in the 1970s and 1980s, when plain bottles were unsaleable. There is no indication that any of this group was ever originally incised with an imperial reign mark, although Zaiquan, the fifth Prince Ding, apparently had his hall mark incised on some examples (see no. Treasury 1, 154).

We know, nevertheless, that bottles of this form were made during the last third of the Qianlong reign and were connected in some way with the court because of several examples inscribed with imperial poems. A yellow nephrite bottle from the group is incised with such a poem: no. 109 in this the Bloch collection. It was dated as early nineteenth century at the sale of part of the Eric Young Collection, where it was acquired (Sotheby’s, London, 3 March 1987, lot 136); many of the group with imperial poems were considered somewhat suspect at that time, but have since been re-assessed. Since we know that the majority of these poetic bottles date from the last third of the reign, we can be reasonably sure that most undated imperial-poem bottles are of the later Qianlong period. The fact that the group continued as a popular style in the early nineteenth century is suggested by the existence of an example very similar to this one, also in the Bloch Collection (no. 154), which bears the hall mark of the fifth Prince Ding, for whom a number of dated and inscribed pieces were made between 1849 and his death in 1854. The mark appears to be a genuine old mark. All it tells us, however, is that at some time during the first half of the nineteenth century, the prince had his hall name inscribed on the bottle; it does not tell us whether he had the bottle made, bought it new, or bought it old.

For similar bottles from the group, see also Hamilton 1977, p. 130, J.63 and J.64, (in a fitted box); JICSBS, Summer 1989, front cover, and, JICSBS, Autumn 1991, back cover.




Lot 80 Lot 81 Lot 82 Lot 83 Lot 84 Lot 85 Lot 86

 

Hugh Moss | Contact Us