Footnotes

• Treasury 5, no. 1024
  
  白套赭石色玻璃花鳥鼻煙壺
  揚州，1870年代
  
  Yunting's Delight
  
  Translucent, streaky olive-brown and semi-transparent white glass; with a flat lip and recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding flattened footrim; carved as a single overlay with some carving in the ground colour on one main side with two birds beside a crackled vase with a branch of blossoming China roses, one of the birds climbing into a low, rectangular dish that appears to be empty, with an oval seal, in relief, positive seal script, Li shi ('Li family' or 'Mr. Li'), and on the other with flowering prunus branches, a flowering narcissus and two mandarin oranges, inscribed in relief seal script Yunting zishang ('for Yunting's own appreciation')
  Yangzhou, 1864-1890
  Height: 7.08 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.60/1.45 cm
  Stopper: coral, carved with a coiled chi dragon; turquoise collar
  
  Condition: upper neck possibly slightly trimmed, but still with one small chip and several tiny ones; the footrim with one tiny chip and smaller nibbles, all insignificant. General relative condition: very good
  
  Provenance:
  Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 5 May 1994, lot 1249
  
  Published:
  Treasury 5, no. 1024
  
  Exhibited:
  British Museum, London, June-October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July-November 1997
  
  Commentary:
  This bottle introduces, on a bottle bearing Yunting's name, extensive carving in the ground colour of a sort found frequently on the finest works of this school. This ground-plane carving may occur in two forms, one being simple, engraved lines added to the ground colour, a method employed to depict, among other things, water. The other involves relief-carved elements in the ground colour, as seen here in the crackled vase and the low, rectangular vessel into which one of the birds is climbing. This technique may also be detected in the flowers of the narcissus, here so refined that the impression is of a headless plant growing from a bulb. Narcissi are frequently depicted in Chinese art with their bulbs showing, since at Chinese New Year they are grown in pots of water set on pebbles. Here, however, the bulb seems to have been cast down on the ground, which is unusual. The branch of flowering prunus, similarly, is shown lacking a setting, as it is neither growing from the ground as a tree, nor set in a vase as would be usual for cut branches.
  
  The superb quality of this carving is matched by an overlay footrim that is faultlessly achieved.
  
  The two birds here represent a married couple, hence harmonious marriage. The blooming China rose enjoys a long flowering period and thus stands for longevity, one of its Chinese names being changchun, meaning 'everlasting spring.' The crackled (sui) glaze of the vase (ping) implies the wish: '[May you be] safe and sound year after year' (suisui ping'an). The prunus and narcissus together are symbols of purity (shuangqing), forming one of several plant groupings that illustrate the scholarly penchant for taking things in nature to signify an incorruptible quality in human conduct. The white petals and the fragrance of the narcissus qualify it as one, while the freshness, fragrance, and hardiness of the prunus perform the same function. The mandarin orange (jie) is associated with the idea of 'auspicious' (ji). Since a large and a small orange are depicted, the smaller one is obviously lighter (qing) than the larger one. Combined with the sound 'ji', the term 'jiqing' means 'celebration of an auspicious occasion.'
  
  韻亭自賞鼻煙壺
  
  半透明白色玻璃，外套以含條紋的赭石色玻璃；平唇， 凸 形斂底， 突出弄平的圈足；單層外套和瓶地一正面雕滿布開片的花瓶中插著月季，其下有二隻鳥，一隻在長方盤內，左下有紅文橢圓形"李氏"篆印，另一正面雕梅花、水仙花、橘子圖，其上有陽文"韵亭自賞"篆題
  揚州, 1864～1890年
  高：7.08 厘米
  口經/唇經：0.60/1.45 厘米
  蓋：珊瑚雕蟠螭；綠松石座
  
  狀態敘述：
  頸上部或有所削減，但尚存一個小缺口以及幾個微小的缺口；圈足有一個小缺口以及幾個微小的缺口，都無足輕重的。總體的相對狀況： 相當好
  
  來源:
  蘇富比，香港，1994年5月5日，拍賣品號1249
  
  文獻：
  Treasury 5, 編號1024
  
  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:
  韻亭，李均亭也。均，王問切，韻、韵的古字，晚清人很喜歡用古字或者破音字的比較少用的讀音，此其一例也。我們正在重新研討李均亭是誰，已經可以推定他不是工藝匠而是主顧，以後會在《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》發表結論。
  
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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