Footnotes

• Treasury 3, no. 382
  
  雞血石葉子蝴蝶鼻煙壺
  A soapstone 'leaf and butterfly' snuff bottle
  
  ('The Chicken-Blood Soapstone Leafy Branch')
  
  Soapstone; reasonably well hollowed, with a flat, irregularly oval lip made up in part from elements of the design and with no foot; carved in the form of four leaves growing from a severed branch, which forms the neck and lip of the bottle; with a butterfly and a bee or wasp in relief on one main side
  1750–1880
  Height: 7.42 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.61/ 2.4 and 1.71 cm (oval)
  Stopper: jadeite; silver collar
  
  Condition: Scratches to lip from use twisting of the stopper; a few tiny bruises, not obtrusive, to extremities; surface with a mass of tiny abrasions from use. General relative condition: unusually good for a soapstone bottle
  
  Provenance:
  Private American collection
  Christie's, New York, 27 November 1991, lot 139 (part)
  
  Published:
  Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 250
  Oriental Art, Spring 1994, p.27
  JICSBS, Autumn 1995, p. 21, fig. 3
  Kleiner 1995, no. 295
  Treasury 3, no. 382
  
  Exhibited:
  Hong Kong Museum of Art, March–June 1994
  National Museum, Singapore, November 1994–February 1995
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  Commentary
  This is one of the most impressive of all known soapstone snuff bottles. Not only is the material a valuable variety of soapstone in its own right, it is also an early example of a rare subject and extremely well carved.
  
  The subject is a group of naturalistically rendered leaves with insects. Quite apart from its power as art and rarity as a snuff bottle, this material is among the more valued colours of soapstone. It is known as 'chicken's blood', and the brilliant, variegated crimson colour running through parts of the material gave it its material value. One of the reasons why we can enjoy this material as a snuff bottle, which is rare, is almost certainly because it was not of more brilliant colour. Had it been, it would have been made into an undecorated seal. It is equally true of all other valuable colours of soapstone that the finest examples of the material do not occur as snuff bottles.
  
  A few other examples are known in this distinctive stone, which seems to endorse the belief that the better the colour the less likely the material was to attract surface decoration, since all of them are plain and of rather more vivid colour. One was in the collection of the late Paul Braga (Hong Kong Museum of Art 1977, no. 166); it bears a Qianlong reign mark that appeared to be credible when we last inspected it, twenty years ago. The other two are a brilliantly coloured example in the Au Hang Collection (Au Hang 1993, no. 210) and a pebble shaped bottle in Kleiner 1990, no. 95.
  
  Other examples may be of more brilliant colour, particularly the Au Hang bottle, but it is worth remembering that material alone never made for great art, although it may have inspired it from time to time, and imaginative conception, lovely carving, and an unusual subject must ultimately rank above material in the art of the snuff bottle, even if material is an important factor in the marketplace for that art.
  
  雞血石葉子蝴蝶鼻煙壺
  
  雞血石；掏膛夠徹底，平唇，無足，浮雕四片葉子，一正面浮雕蝴蝶、蜂
  1750–1880
  高：7.42 厘米
  口經/唇經：0.61/ 2.4 及 1.71 厘米 (橢圓形)
  蓋： 翡翠; 銀座
  
  狀態敘述： 唇呈轉蓋的抓痕，壺端點呈些擦傷，並不觸目；經過歲月的磨擦以後，壺外表呈很多微乎其微的磨耗。一般相對的狀態：就滑石的鼻煙壺來說，格外的好
  
  來源：
  Private American collection
  Christie's, New York, 27 November 1991, 拍賣品號 139 (part)
  
  文獻：
  Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, 編號 250
  Oriental Art, Spring 1994, p.27
  JICSBS, Autumn 1995, p. 21, fig. 3
  Kleiner 1995, 編號 295
  Treasury 3, 編號 382
  
  展覽:
  Hong Kong Museum of Art, March–June 1994
  National Museum, Singapore, November 1994–February 1995
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  說明
  如果本壺的質料是更燿眼的話，一定是雕方印章的，幸而它是次等的質量，宜於製成鼻煙壺。顏色好的雞血石煙壺很少有紋飾，可參照Paul Braga珍藏的乾隆款的 (Hong Kong Museum of Art 1977, 編號 166、區氏集壺精舍的 (區鏗 1993, 編號 210) ，以及 Kleiner 1990, 編號95的卵石形煙壺。
  
  
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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