Footnotes

• Treasury 6, no. 1118
  
  銅胎掐絲琺瑯百花圖鼻煙壺
  擬御製品，傳北京宮廷造辦處，1760～1799
  
  A cloisonné enamelled 'millefleur' snuff bottle
  
  Famille-rose enamels on copper with gold (cloisonné); with a flat lip and recessed slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding flat footrim; decorated with a continuous design of millefleurs beneath a neck band of formalized lingzhi; the foot covered in turquoise-blue enamel, the outer footrim not enamelled; all exterior exposed metal and the inner neck gilt
  Probably imperial, attributable to the palace workshops, Beijing 1760–1799
  Height: 5.7 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.76/1.41 cm
  Stopper: Famille-rose enamels on copper with gold (cloisonné), decorated with a formalized flower head; original
  
  Condition: very slight wear to the gilt on lip and footrim, insignificant; slight original flaw in upper neck pattern missing enamel and gilded over originally; minute chip in the petal of the blue flower near the base; possible chip from the blue enamel on the base; mild pitting to the surface enamels; otherwise, kiln condition
  
  Provenance:
  Alex S. Cussons
  Sydney L. Moss Ltd., circa 1966
  Unidentified private collection
  Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., (1996)
  
  Published:
  Snuff Bottle Review 2, no. 1 (1976), p. 50, no. 7
  Treasury 6, no. 1118
  
  This unique millefleurs-design cloisonné snuff bottle has some features in common with lot 124 in this auction. It is technically as proficient and of a similar range of colours, although they are used with even greater sophistication here. The subject is unique, inspired, no doubt, by millefleurs designs on painted enamels on metal of the earlier part of the century (see, for instance, Sale 1, lot 77). The detailing of the inner neck sets it apart, also. Lot 124 and similar bottles have a flat washer welded to the top of the bottle, creating a shelf-like lip. To construct those bottles, two sheets of copper were beaten into a mould to form the walls of the bottle, which were then welded together; a footrim was added by bending a narrow sheet of copper around on itself, soldering the ends together, and then soldering the entire foot to the body; finally, a washer was soldered to the body to form the lip. In this case (and Sale 2, lot 72), the initial processes are the same, but the neck has a long inner neck made of a separate cylinder without the additional lip. This inner cylinder fills the length of the neck. Another difference between this bottle and Sale 2, lot 72 lies in the thinner footrim and the slightly convex, more crudely enamelled foot. There was no attempt to create a flat foot on this bottle; the enamel is simply painted on, fired, and left with its uneven, undulating surface.
  
  This cylindrical lining of the neck appears on palace painted enamels on metal from earlier in the eighteenth century, and the millefleurs design is a typically imperial one, so there is no reason why this bottle should not be a palace product of the second half of the Qianlong reign. If the palace cloisonné workshops did indeed close down in 1789 (and there is still some question about this), then that might provide us with a terminus ad quem for this bottle. Until we discover more about when private production for the court began to be entertained as a serious option to replace production at the palace workshops and other imperial facilities, however, our attribution of this rare masterpiece of the genre to the palace must remain provisional.
  
  銅胎掐絲琺瑯繁花圖鼻煙壺
  
  銅胎掐絲琺瑯；平唇 ，微凸斂底，突出圈足，足底完全接觸地面 ; 飾通體百花紋，頸邊飾為一周雲頭紋，底施綠松石藍琺瑯料，圈足外壁不施琺瑯 料，頸內及外壁無琺瑯料的銅皆鎏 金
  擬為御製品，擬屬宮廷作坊，北京，1760–1799
  高﹕ 5.7 厘米
  口經/唇經： 0.76/1.41 厘米
  蓋：銅胎掐絲琺瑯，飾形式代的花朵；原件
  
  狀態敘述：唇與圈足上的鎏金呈微不足道的損耗，頸邊俟脫掉了一點琺瑯料，製造時就施了金料，近底的藍色花朵呈微小的缺口，外居的琺瑯料呈點點狀缺陷；此外，出窯狀態
  
  來源﹕
  Alex S. Cussons
  Sydney L. Moss Ltd., circa 1966
  未記錄私人珍藏
  Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., (1996)
  
  文獻﹕
  Snuff Bottle Review 2, 編號1 (1976), 頁 50, 編號7
  Treasury 6, 編號1118
  
  說明﹕
  這件掐絲琺瑯煙壺跟當前拍賣會拍賣品號 124有異同之趣。技巧水平大致上是一樣的，顏色類也相似，只是本壺的顏色措置更先進。題材大概是十八世紀初的金屬胎畫琺瑯百花煙壺學來的。可以參見第一場拍賣會，拍賣品號 77。
  
  本壺內頸的處理也跟拍賣品號 124也不一樣。那件在壺頸上端焊接了一片墊圈，而本壺跟第二場拍賣會，拍賣品號 72 一樣，頸裏頭安置了一支長形管，不加第二唇。 而本壺圈足比 第二場拍賣會，拍賣品號 72 狹，底也凸出，施琺瑯料的技工也比較粗糙。
  

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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