Footnotes

• Treasury 6, no. 1404
  
  瓷胎模製綠釉雙龍戲珠圖鼻煙壺
  或御製品，景德鎮，「潛道人製」篆款，1840～1910
  
  An emerald-green porcelain 'dragons' snuff bottle
  
  Crackled emerald-green glaze on porcelain; with a convex lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a very slightly protruding convex footrim; carved with a continuous design of two imperial five-clawed dragons chasing a flaming pearl with a background of formalized clouds and flames above four rocky peaks rising from formalized waves; the foot engraved in seal script, Qiandaoren zhi ('Made for/by the man who submerges himself in the Way') in a rounded rectangular cartouche; all interior and exterior surfaces except the footrim covered in glaze
  Possibly imperial, associated with Qiandaoren, Jingdezhen, 1840–1910
  Height: 6.46 cm
  Mouth/lip: 1.65/2.23 cm
  Stopper: glass; stained plastic finial; plastic collar
  
  Condition: very minor wear to the lip; two areas of brown discoloration on the reverse side; one small chip towards the tip of the dragon's horn on the right; the tip of the dragon's horn on the left is missing; some wear to relief areas
  
  Provenance:
  Sotheby's, London, 6 March 1979, lot 105
  The White Wings Collection
  Robert Kleiner (1998)
  
  Published:
  Kleiner 1997, no. 96
  JICSBS, Autumn 2000, p.22, fig. 20
  Treasury 6, no. 1404
  
  Two other bottles bear this signature and are of the same subject, although the compositions differ and the others have more emphatic relief. One was illustrated in JICSBS, Summer 1994, p. 1, and is in the style of the individualist carvers of the nineteenth century; it is covered with a pale yellow glaze characteristic of many of their works. The other is covered with an imitation jadeite glaze (also popular with the nineteenth-century porcelain-carving group); formerly in the Rotholtz Collection, it is now part of a private Canadian collection. This distinctive shape became popular in ceramics during the mid-nineteenth century. It was adopted from an eighteenth-century palace form found in glass and hardstones.
  
  The glaze here may have been intended to imitate jadeite, although not of the mottled type commonly imitated by the nineteenth-century porcelain carvers. The present example and the Rotholtz one both have a very wide mouth, a feature that we know was popular on snuff pots of the Daoguang period; we suspect a production date in the late Daoguang or Xianfeng reign would be the most likely. Leaving aside the signature on three of these bottles, there is little doubt that they are from the same hand, as the style is identical and the main dragons similarly disposed. All are spectacularly well-carved, dynamic compositions.
  
  The five-clawed dragons on two of them, combined with the imperial yellow colour of the other example, suggest work for a member of the imperial family. Such protocols may have eroded during the mid-Qing dynasty, particularly for wares designed to be sold to foreign collectors, and forgers making bottles with fake reign marks would purposefully use the imperial colour, but it would seem unwise for anyone to usurp the imperial dragon and colour and then sign his name, even right at the end of the Qing.
  
  See lot 111 in this sale for speculations on the identity of Qiandaoren, 'The Man Who Submerges Himself in the Way'. We have previously read this name as meaning 'Man-of-the-Way Qian', as if Qian were a surname; it is, but it is a rare one. Lot 111 is dated 1898.
  
  瓷胎模製綠釉雙龍戲珠圖鼻煙壺
  
  瓷胎碎紋鮮綠釉；凸唇，平斂底，微出凸圈足，雕通體兩條五爪龍搶焰珠紋，底刻有篆款"潛道人製"，外加圓棱單圈；內外壁，除圈足外，皆施釉
  或許為御用作坊作，跟潛道人有關係，景德鎮，1840–1910
  高﹕ 6.46 厘米
  口經/唇經： 1.65/2.23 厘米
  蓋： 玻璃；染色塑料頂飾；塑料座
  
  狀態敘述：唇呈微乎其微的損耗；反面呈棕色變色，在右的龍近角有微乎其微的缺口，在左的龍的角脫落了尖端；凸出處有所損耗
  
  來源﹕
  倫敦蘇富比, 1979年3月6日，拍賣品號 105
  White Wings 珍藏
  Robert Kleiner (1998)
  
  文獻﹕
  Kleiner 1997, 編號96
  《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 2000年秋期， p.22, 圖20
  Treasury 6, 編號1404
  
  說明﹕
  潛道人款的同題材鼻煙壺有兩件。一件發表於 《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 1994年夏期，頁 1，是十九世紀自我型雕瓷家典型的風格，而且施他們習用的淡黃釉。另一件施另一種十九世紀雕瓷家喜愛的釉，即擬翡翠釉。那件曾為 Rotholtz 珍藏的藏品，如今屬於加拿大私人珍藏。跟
  Rotholtz珍藏的一件一樣，本壺具很寬的口，讓人聯想到道光朝的罐形鼻煙壺；我們認為本壺應屬道光晚年或者咸豐朝。
  
  潛道人，請參閱這場拍賣會，拍賣品號 111。 以前，我們以為他姓潛。姓潛的人的確是有的，但極少。拍賣品號 111 是 1898年作的。
  
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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