Footnotes

• Treasury 6, no. 1253
  
  瓷胎畫粉彩人物故事鼻煙壺
  景德鎮，鐵紅「嘉慶年製」楷款，1800～1820
  
  Lot 120
  Treasury 6, no. 1253
  HK$22,000 – 30,000
  US$2,800 – 3,800
  
  A famille rose enamelled porcelain 'warriors' snuff bottle
  
  ('Gathering of Warriors')
  
  Famille rose enamels on colourless glaze on porcelain; with convex lip and concave circular foot surrounded by a convex circular footrim; painted with a continuous scene of warriors, standard-bearers, and other figures meeting in front of a screen set up in hilly countryside; the foot inscribed in iron-red regular script Jiaqing nian zhi ('Made during the Jiaqing period'); the lip painted with gold enamel; the interior glazed
  Jingdezhen, 1800–1820
  Height: 7.72 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.82/1.48 cm
  Stopper: jadeite; gilt-bronze collar, chased with diagonal lines
  
  Condition: tiny glaze bubble on outer lip part of original process of firing;minor wear to enamels from use; some wear to gold enamel on lip.General relative condition: excellent
  
  Provenance:
  Gerd Lester (1968)
  
  Published:
  Treasury 6, no. 1253
  
  Commentary
  This is another of the unique bottles in the Bloch Collection for which no other example of the same shape and design has come to light so far. The identity of the various figures and the story behind them remain unidentified.
  
  There are three indications that it comes from the latter part of the reign. Although it might be looked upon as a modified meiping ('prunus-blossom vase'), it has more affiliation with a series of nineteenth-century forms broadly seen as cylindrical. Some of the bottles we have in mind are actually are cylindrical, apart from the curving of the shoulders into the narrower neck, but many are tapered or, like this one, both tapered and gently curved. But we group them together not only because they can be seen as modified cylinders; what better defines them is their lack of compression. A horizontal slice through them at any point would provide a perfect circle, which tells us that they are constructed differently from compressed forms. It is this shift in construction methods that prompted mid-Qing and nineteenth-century explorations of new forms. These forms had their origins in the late Qianlong period (see under Sale 1, lot 134, where strictly cylindrical bottles from the mid- to late-Qianlong palace are cited) but became immensely popular with the massive increase in demand seen in the mid-Qing period and the resulting mass production of porcelain snuff bottles made at Jingdezhen for a non-imperial market. If we take all the bottles of this formal range, including those in monochrome colours and with underglaze blue and red decoration, they form a significant part of nineteenth century ceramic snuff-bottle production.
  
  A second reason to date this to the later reign is that the enamels and the style of painting are closer to known Daoguang style than to Qianlong style. If we isolate, for instance, the rocks and foliage here, they could be confidently dated to the Daoguang period; a comparison with the Daoguang-dated Treasury 6, no. 1313, suggests they may not be separated by many years.
  
  Finally, the four-character mark is in regular script – a departure from standard Jiaqing usage, but common under the Daoguang emperor, where both regular and seal script were used on imperial products. We suspect this was made in the last few years of the Jiaqing period.
  
  It is interesting to note that legendary warriors are often shown in the Chinese visual and performing arts either bristling with flags tied to their backs or with feather headdresses almost as tall again as they are. Had they worn these symbols of martial power and leadership on the battlefield, they would have made particularly good targets.
  
  瓷胎畫粉彩人物故事鼻煙壺
  
  瓷胎無色釉上畫粉彩；凸唇，凹底，凸圈足；畫通體兵士人等人物，底書鐵紅 "嘉慶年製" 楷篆；唇施金彩琺瑯料，壺內壁施釉
  景德鎮， 1800–1820
  高：7.72 厘米
  口經/唇經：0.82/1.48 厘米
  蓋： 翡翠; 鎏金青銅座，以鏨刻作斜線紋
  
  狀態敘述： 唇外沿微小的釉裏氣泡是燒製就是有的；琺瑯料經過歲月的磨擦以後有所磨耗；唇上金琺瑯料呈點磨耗。總體品相： 極善
  
  來源：
  Gerd Lester (1968)
  
  文獻：
  Treasury 6, 編號 1253
  
  說明：
  在形式和題材方面，本壺似乎是單獨無二的，圖畫的內容待考。它的形式跟十九世紀的一系列筒形煙壺有從屬關係；這種型式是乾隆時期開創的，參閱 第一場拍賣會， 拍賣品號 134，以後在民間的市場上很受歡迎的。繪畫也是道光風，可以跟 Treasury 6, 編號 1313對 比。再者，楷體四字款是道光時期常見的而不是嘉慶的常規。總而言之，我們認為本壺是嘉慶末年的作品。
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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