Lot 78

Lot 78
Treasury 1, no. 55

A white and russet nephrite pebble-material ‘carp and lotus-leaf’ snuff bottle

(‘Carp of Plenty’)

Nephrite of pebble material; very well hollowed and carved in the form of a carp partially enclosed within a lotus leaf attached to a severed stem, a second severed stem supporting a bloom, with elements of the naturalistic subject flattened to allow it to stand upright
1730–1840
Height: 7.69 cm
Mouth: 0.45 cm
Stopper: glass, carved in the form of a lotus root and leaf

Lot 78 Provenance:
Private collection, New York
Chinese Porcelain Company (New York, 1992)

Published:
Chinese Porcelain Company 1992, no. 72
Kleiner 1995, no. 75
Treasury 1, no. 55

Exhibited:
Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, December 1992
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993
British Museum, June–October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997

Lot 78 Commentary
Jana Volf, in her entry for the 1992 Chinese Porcelain Company catalogue, waxed lyrical about this bottle for very good reasons. It is powerful at every level. The size suggests that a minimal amount of material was removed to make the present shape. The use of the material is masterly, with the richly marked skin areas sharply differentiated from the inner colour by leaving the skin in relief. This gives the subject considerable strength and clarity, and a fascinating textural variation between the even colour of the core material and the richly marked skin. Two flaws remaining in the white area have been imaginatively used as trailing whiskers. The positioning of the subject to take advantage not only of the two flaws but of the other skin areas as well is dazzling. The leaf is allowed to take full advantage of skin that ranges from pale beige through rich russet-brown, to areas of almost black, the latter being used to define veins in the leaf and the rotting edges, which are common to lotus-leaves as they begin to die, while the higher-relief bloom has its petals separated by distinctly different colours and textures of skin, allowing both abstract strength and greater apparent depth to the flattened plane of petals.

This material is ideally suited to the subject of a carp wrapped in a lotus leaf, its tail curled back upon its body and emerging behind its dorsal fin. In real life, such a position would be impossible, but in sculpture, where the abrupt fold of the tail against the body is allowed merely to indicate a turn in the body, it suggests much greater depth than the flattened pebble form actually allows. There is a balance and tension set up between the dark areas of skin, the main body of the fish, which is fairly stiffly organized, and the dorsal and tail-fins, the latter being superbly detailed and fluid, as if gently moved by shifting currents.

The subject of a lotus (he) leaf wrapped around (bao) a big (da) carp (liyu) is read as hebao dali (‘May your purse be filled with good profits’).. Alternatively, the same subject of a lotus (lian) leaf wrapped around a fish (yu) may remind one of the saying liannian youyu (‘May you have plenty year after year’).

As Jana Volf points out, it is quite clear that this sculpture was conceived as a snuff bottle and has not been converted from something else. Of pebble-form, like so many small jade carvings, the lotus leaf at the foot has been intentionally flattened as part of the original design so that it will stand upright, but not so obviously that the alternative position, lying on a table on its flatter side, is ruled out visually. The mouth of the fish also has a lip that perfectly surrounds the contour of the bottle’s mouth. As a rule, those who convert bottles from other forms have to carve a hole through existing detail, although this is also standard for certain other animal-form bottles, such as Treasury 1, nos. 45 and 51, also originally conceived as bottles (see also Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, nos. 3 and 5). This superb carving falls into the thoughtful category that works ideally in the hand but can also be laid flat or stood upright and still function powerfully as sculpture. Jana Volf summed it up as follows: ‘The artist has clearly understood the intrinsic qualities of the stone itself. The carving relates the artist’s awareness and respect for these qualities and ultimately his ability to execute a bottle that is virtually flawless.’

One tentative possibility for attribution is raised by this particular fish. It is similar in sculptural style and formal arrangement to a glass bottle in the Bloch Collection (see Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 108). Both jade and glass could be carved with little material difference by the same lapidaries, and we know that this happened in the palace workshops, where carvers were considered as general carvers rather than as specific to one medium (see Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, p. 552). If the two were products of the same workshop, then perhaps the palace is the most likely provenance. Although insufficient evidence for a positive attribution, it is yet another clue that such fish-, insect-, and animal-form bottles may have come, even if not exclusively,

from the court workshops.