Lot 61

Lot 61
Treasury 5, no. 1008
HK$264,000

Smooth as Silk

Translucent white, transparent emerald-green, and translucent pink glass, the green with scattered air bubbles of various sizes; with a flat lip; carved as a double overlay with a continuous scene of silkworms, silk moths, and cocoons set against leafy branches of a mulberry tree
Li Junting school, probably Yangzhou, 1775–1910 (but see commentary below)
Height: 6.2 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.70/1.15 cm
Stopper: gilt silver, with integral finial, chased with a formalized floral design; gilt-silver collar



Lot 61 Provenance:
S. Marchant & Son, London (1969)
Hugh M. Moss Ltd (1969)
Unrecorded Collector
Drouot, Paris (Millon Jutheau), 2 July 1984, lot 49
Robert Hall (1984)

Published:
Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 5, p. 117
Kleiner 1987, no. 123
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, exhibition poster, October 1987
Arts of Asia, September-October 1990, p. 97, fig 36
Kleiner 1995, no. 166
Next Magazine, March 1997, p. 123
Treasury 5, no. 1008

Exhibited:
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Galeries Lafayette, Paris, April 1990
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May-June 1993
British Museum, London, June-October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July-November 1997

Lot 61 Commentary
We are presently evaluating new evidence suggesting that Li Junting’s name is properly read Li Yunting and that he is to be identified as the late-nineteenth-century Yangzhou philanthropist Li Weizhi. See lot 119 in this sale for more details. While waiting for our reassessment to be completed, the reader who wishes to trace some of the many bottles associated with the school or movement in question is invited to peruse the commentary and references under Treasury 5, no. 1008.