Footnotes

• Treasury 7, no. 1552
  
  象牙桃形鼻煙壺
  
  An ivory 'peach' snuff bottle
  
  Ivory; well hollowed, carved in the form of a peach
  1740–1880
  Height: 4.78 cm (measured at right angles to the plane of the undefined lip)
  Mouth: 0.67 cm
  Stopper: coral, a natural, twig-like section
  
  Condition: age cracks in the ivory and some yellowish patination; otherwise, in excellent condition
  
  Provenance:
  Robert Hall (1989)
  
  Published:
  Hall 1989, no. 21
  Kleiner 1995, no. 321
  Treasury 7, no. 1552
  
  Exhibited:
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  We know that fruit-form bottles in ivory were made as early as 1724 at the palace (Yongzheng Records, p. 33), but the whiteness of the ivory in this case would seem to rule out so early a date here. Had it been made, little used, and then stored at the palace for a century or more, it could have remained this colour, but under high magnification it is easy to read the surface wear as rendering such a scenario implausible. It probably dates from the mid-Qing, perhaps from the late Qianlong into the early nineteenth century.
  
  Whenever it was made, it is an extremely rare ivory snuff bottle formally, with a lovely satiny surface through use. Among peach-shaped snuff bottles in general it stands out strikingly. One of the reasons for this is that it is pure; there has been no attempt to set it in context with branches and leaves.
  
  The coral stopper is ideally suited here, although, unusually, mounted sideways rather than as a twig sticking up. Natural branches of coral of this colour were the common form in which the material was delivered to the lapidary, and once the thicker parts of the 'trunk' and main 'branches' had been used for larger objects, including snuff bottles, the tiny little outer 'twigs' were ideal for snuff-bottle stoppers and not much good for anything other than small pieces of jewellery. To transform these offcuts into stoppers, all they needed was a little polishing to the natural shape.
  
  For a useful article by William R. Mann on the various sources of ivory and ivory-like materials, see 'Ivory: Sources, Identification, and Uses', JICSBS, Autumn 2001, pp. 12–34.
  
  
  象牙桃形鼻煙壺
  
  象牙；掏膛完整，雕桃形
  1740–1880
  高﹕ 4.78 厘米 (與唇的平面為直角而量)
  口經： 0.67 厘米
  蓋： 珊瑚，像折枝的一段
  
  狀態敘述；因為積年累月，有所裂縫，色澤古雅；此外，狀況極善
  
  
  來源﹕
  羅伯特．霍爾 (1989)
  
  文獻﹕
  Hall 1989, 編號21
  Kleiner 1995, 編號321
  Treasury 7, 編號1552
  
  展覽﹕
  大英博物館，1995年6月～10月
  Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷，1997年7月～月11月
  
  說明﹕
  看本壺的顏色與損耗程度，我們估計是清朝中葉雕成的。它形式素淨雅致的，不加以折枝、葉子等。珊瑚枝的蓋也配得很理想。
  
  
  
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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