Footnotes

• Treasury 2, no. 311
  
  玉髓巧作荷塘青蛙鼻煙壺
  頒賜品，1760-1850
  
  The Count Blucher Green Cameo Chalcedony
  
  Dendritic chalcedony; very well hollowed, with a concave lip and shallowly recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding flat footrim; carved with a cameo design of a frog seated on a lotus leaf in a pond defined by a line of formalized waves above the foot
  Official School, 1760–1850
  Height: 6.65 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.72/2.42 and 2.35 cm (oval)
  Stopper: coral, carved with a chi dragon; vinyl collar
  
  Condition: Possible very slight trim to outer footrim to remove tiny chips, but possibly just the way it was made.
  
  Provenance:
  Bluett and Sons Ltd.
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
  Kurt Graf Blucher von Wahlstatt (Count Blucher)
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
  Alice B. McReynolds
  Emily Byrne Curtis
  Robert Kleiner (1987)
  
  Published:
  The Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide, January 1967
  Moss 1971a, p. 77, no. 59
  Stevens 1976, no. 496
  Kleiner 1995, no. 278
  Treasury 2, no. 311
  
  Exhibited:
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  Commentary:
  There is a variety of chalcedony that has planes of green material running through the more usual pale honey-brown colour. Although, as a rule, the green is not made up of such strong and obviously dendritic filaments as the range of material known as moss agate, it is infused with moss-like markings, even if on a fairly microscopic level, and just about qualifies as dendritic. Because of the colour, the material tended to be used for a range of subjects where green was of particular significance. Different subjects applied to a different colour range might suggest a different School, but there are a number of bottles that have similar subjects in the more conventional colours of material that prove beyond a doubt that they are from the Official School. Even without these, the sizes and shapes, style of carving, and the manner in which the colour is used would all be sufficient to identify them with the school.
  
  As a rule, the subjects shown on these dendritic green relief bottles are frogs, lotus leaves, and crickets, all of which are ideally suited to the material. For examples, see Helen White 1990, Snuff Bottles from China, Pl. 20 (four examples), Jutheau 1980, p. 105, no. 5 (left) and no. 6 (an extraordinary bottle previously thought to be a late anomaly but one that was probably made in the late Qianlong palace workshops). For a bottle similar to this, carved with the same subject, see Stevens 1976, no. 545, where nos. 544 and 546 are also of a similar range of material, the latter bearing a strong resemblance to early nineteenth-century glass overlay carving. Another of the group is illustrated in Hall 1987, no. 17, and an unusual example with a large carp and lotus is Treasury 2, no. 312. There are also related bottles in glass overlay from the mid-Qing period, further strengthening the imperial link between the Official School bottles and others probably carved at or for the court. A green overlay quite similar in composition to this example is illustrated by Moss 1971a, no. 230. It is even on a transparent, brownish-yellow ground very similar to the ground colour here and it may have been a direct glass copy of the stone versions.
  
  The lotus-and-frog was a subject ideally suited to this material, and it is one of the popular images. The lotus (lian) and the frog (wa) are combined to elicit the term lianwa which means '[May you produce] children one after the other'. Quality can vary considerably, as in the wider range of Official School bottles, but this is one of the finest examples known. The carving exhibits the standard control of the better products of the school and the bottle is superbly hollowed and detailed. It is also of the common, generous proportions favoured by the school, although that may represent only a particular phase of its overall production, perhaps from the late Qianlong into the Daoguang period. The three lotus leaves and single lotus pod, the petals having fallen to reveal the seed pod at the centre of the flower, are arranged so strongly across the main face of the bottle that the little toad or frog on a fourth leaf in the lower right hand corner of the illustration is in danger of being ignored. Once spotted, however, he is extremely convincing and as well carved as any in the medium. A small, uncarved circle of green on the upper shoulder, to the left of the main illustration, represents the sun.
  
  The narrow-side view demonstrates the control with which the ground plane has been separated from the green relief without interfering with the formal integrity of the bottle, not an easy feat where one must balance natural markings with a chosen form and make both work perfectly.
  
  The slightly convex recessed oval foot is far from careless. Although shallow, it is well carved and matched to a neatly finished and formally impeccable flat footrim.
  
  布呂歇爾伯爵所收藏的綠色巧雕玉髓壺
  含樹枝狀斑紋的玉髓；掏膛非常完整，凹唇，微凸斂底，突出圈足，足底完全接觸地面；巧雕青蛙在蓮池中蹲蓮葉
  頒賜品， 1760～1850年
  高﹕ 6.65 厘米
  口經/唇經： 0.72/2.42 及 2.35 厘米 (橢圓形)
  蓋﹕ 珊瑚，雕蟠螭；乙烯基座
  
  狀態敘述﹕
  圈足外緣或呈微乎其微的修剪，也何能是原來的雕琢方式
  
  來源：
  Bluett and Sons Ltd
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd
  庫爾特．布呂歇爾．馮．華爾斯達脫（伯爵）Kurt Blücher von Walhstatt (Graf)
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd
  Alice B. McReynolds
  艾米莉．比爾內．柯梯斯
  Robert Kleiner (1987)
  
  文獻﹕
  The Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide, 1967年1月
  Moss 1971a, 頁 77, 編號 59
  Stevens 1976, 編號 496
  Kleiner 1995, 編號 278
  Treasury 2, 編號 311
  
  展覽﹕
  大英博物館, 倫敦, 1995年6月～10月
  Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年7月～11月
  
  說明:
  本壺材料裏的含樹枝狀斑紋是很微小，肉眼或許看不見，但還可以算是含樹枝狀斑紋類的玉髓。形式、雕琢風格等等都是頒賜品典型的特色。
  
  含樹枝狀斑紋的綠色浮雕鼻煙壺其他例子和詳細論述，請參閱本壺的英文說明。
  
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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