Lot 56

Lot 56
Treasury 1, no. 113
HK$504,000

The Bob Stevens ‘Enlightened Lotus’ Jade

Flawless nephrite; well hollowed, with a concave lip and flat foot; the octagonal, faceted form carved on each side with a formalized design of lotus in Mughal style
Imperial, palace workshops, possibly the Xifanzuo (Tibetan workshop), Beijing, 1760–1799
Height: 4.71 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.47/1.24 cm
Stopper: jadeite; pearl finial

Lot 56 Provenance:
Ko Collection (Beijing, 1923)
Christie’s, London, 8 November 1976, lot 106
Bob C. Stevens
Sotheby’s, Honolulu, 7 November 1981, lot 115
Alice B. McReynolds
Sotheby’s, Los Angeles, 31 October 1984, lot 158
Published:
Snuff Bottle Review, December 1976, p. 4
Hong Kong 1977, no. 136
JICSBS, June 1978, p. 45
Chinese Snuff Bottles and Dishes 1978, no. 164
JICSBS, December 1978, p. 43, fig. 164
Snuff Bottle Review, December 1981, p. 15
Art at Auction 1982, p. 359
Arts of Asia, January–February 1982, p. 61
JICSBS, Autumn 1984, p. ii
Kleiner 1987, no. 26
Kleiner 1995, no. 48
Treasury 1, no. 113
Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, October 1977
Mikimoto Hall, Tokyo, October 1978
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993
British Museum, June–October 1995
Israel Museum, 1997

Lot 56 Commentary
This must be one of the most famous of all palace jade snuff bottles. Every time it has come up at auction in recent years it has commanded an extraordinary price for the day, and because of its frequent publication and impressive provenance, it is as well known as any imperial jade snuff bottle. If a poll were taken among collectors as to which of the palace workshops jade snuff bottles they know best and would most like to own, it would probably result in this bottle emerging head and shoulders above all others.

The formal link with the palace workshops is now well established. The octagonal form, derived from European watches of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century, with either a rounded panel or, as in this case, a faceted panel, is well known in palace glass and palace painted-enamels on both glass and metal, so the link with imperial production, despite the absence of a mark, was obvious and recognized at an early date. Superimposed upon this, however, is the crisp and confident design of formalized lotus which, stylistically, can only have been inspired by the Hindustan jade carving which became the great passion of the Qianlong emperor from the 1760s to the end of his reign. The significance of Hindustan jade carving is discussed under Treasury 1, no. 114, where a record of the establishment of a special workshop within the palace for the production of such wares emulating Mughal and Turkish jade-carving of the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries is noted. This workshop was designated as the ‘Tibetan workshop’ and was apparently separate from the long-established palace workshops for lapidary carving in general.

It is possible that this bottle was made in the main workshops in response to the emperor’s love of Hindustan jades, since the finish is consistent with the traditional polishing of nephrite, whereas the known wares from the Tibetan workshop tended to have a more glittery finish. The Tibetan workshop might also have been expected to emulate the unusual thinness of the Hindustan jades which excited the emperor, whereas this example is not super-hollowed. The stylistic reference to this group of jades, however, is irresistible and it is highly unlikely that the bottle could have been made prior to 1760.

The softer polish and combination with a known palace form might also indicate that the bottle was among the earlier examples expressing this stylistic influence, allowing us, perhaps, to date it to the period shortly after 1760 and, therefore, granting the rare luxury of as precise a dating as is possible with any undated palace jade carving.

If it is a product of the Tibetan workshop, the same logic would apply. It is more likely that a bottle of established form and finish would have been made earlier rather than later in the period in which Hindustan jade carving influenced court production. As techniques were perfected the workshop would have tended to respond more fully to the emperor’s desires to closely emulate the thinness and polish of Hindustan wares, achieving fairly quickly not only a similarly thin-walled product, but eventually the extraordinary, virtuoso thinness of the classic Chinese wares which soon made the original Hindustan wares seem almost lumpy by comparison (see, for instance, Treasury 1, no. 115).

It is worth noting that the hollowing of this bottle is excellent and does not leave the heavy foot area so typical of the palace workshops. The carving is also technically masterful, with a fluidity and grace that is often more difficult to express with formalized subjects and perfect separation between the relief and ground planes. The faceting of the surface of the two main sides is also subtly achieved and perfectly balanced with the design. The upper five facets of the octagon are reflected in panels which meet in a point, ideally set above the lotus and balanced by the downward curve of the point where the formalized leaves meet beneath the neck, while the lower three facets are blended into a single surface, to allow the main flower head a visually undisturbed frame in which to work its magic. This gives the impression of light radiating from the open lotus flower which is symbolically brilliant, considering that the lotus became a symbol of the Buddha and, therefore, of absolute enlightenment.

For related bottles, see Snuff Bottles of the Ch’ing Dynasty, no. 42, (of white nephrite, octagonal form and decorated with a formalized flower head); Hall 1990, no. 14; JICSBS, Spring 1992, front cover, and Sotheby’s, New York, 27 June 1986, lot 51 (the last three all plain white nephrite, octagonal-faceted bottles).