Footnotes

• Treasury 5, no. 856
  
  明黃玻璃太平有象鼻煙壺
  傳御用玻璃廠製，北京，1760～1830
  
  A yellow glass 'elephant' snuff bottle
  
  Translucent and semi-transparent yellow glass, with scattered small air bubbles, some elongated; with a concave lip; carved in the form of an elephant, a vase set on its back emerging from a border of formalized lingzhi-heads that, in turn, is set on an tasselled, textile decorated with a formalized floral diaper pattern, the feet of the beast forming the foot of the bottle
  Attributable to the Imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1760-1830
  Height: 7.5 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.66/1.95 cm
  Stopper: coral; plastic collar
  
  Condition: Workshop condition
  
  Provenance:
  K. H. Chu
  Robert Kleiner (1986)
  
  Published:
  Kleiner 1987, no. 76
  Galeries Lafayette 1990, p. 3 and front cover
  Treasury 5, no. 856
  
  Exhibited:
  Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
  
  Glass versions of elephant-form snuff bottles date from no earlier than the mid-Qing period, and many come from the nineteenth century. The most datable examples of the subject, with elephants usually reclining, are those made in porcelain at Jingdezhen, which first appear in the late Qianlong era. The predominance of yellow glass for these elephants denotes an Imperial type—no surprise, given their profusion in Qing palaces—and the colour and texture of the yellow glass here allow an attribution to the Imperial glassworks. The colour, as lovely as any example that we can be reasonably certain was made at the court, is further enhanced by the form, which has dictated various thicknesses of glass resulting in greater translucence and, indeed, transparency in some areas.
  
  The unusually large size of this bottle would be compatible with the late Qianlong era. One of the best carved glass bottles of the subject, it still fails to reach the standard of the finest earlier glass carvings of other subjects, and it is interesting to note the greater simplicity of the diaper ground here compared with the early Qianlong yellow glass bottle, Sale 3, lot 25. This is clearly from the phase of palace glass carving during which decorative intent took on greater importance than artistic intent, although it manages to disguise this fact rather better than some by virtue of its compact and sculptural form. With sculptural bottles of this sort, the delights of the form tend to divert attention from the detail, and as long as the carving is adequate, shortcomings are camouflaged. And, after all, the standard of carving here is as fine as one could expect of this series of elephants.
  
  明黃玻璃太平有象鼻煙壺
  
  透亮及半透明柘黃色玻璃，含零星的小氣泡， 有的拉長； 凹唇；雕大象，背有如負寶瓶， 大象的腳形成壺底
  推定為御用玻璃廠製的，北京，1760-1830
  高﹕ 7.5 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.66/1.95 厘米
  蓋﹕ 珊瑚； 塑料座
  狀態敘述： 出坊狀態
  來源:
  K. H. Chu
  Robert Kleiner (1986)
  
  文獻﹕
  Kleiner 1987, 編號 76
  Galeries Lafayette 1990, 頁3及封面圖片
  Treasury 5, 編號 856
  
  展覽﹕
  Sydney L. Moss Ltd.，倫敦，1987年10月
  
  象形玻璃鼻煙壺從清中葉出現，很多是十九世紀作的。它們多數是柘黃色玻璃作的，可以推定是御用玻璃廠的製品。因為形式和浮雕的狀態，壺壁有厚度的變化，透亮和半透明的地方彼此陪襯得很美。
  
  本壺頗大，乾隆晚年多出這個規模的煙壺。就象形雕玻璃鼻煙壺來說，這是水平極高的作品，但是不同主題的前期作品會更好。跟乾隆初作的第三場拍賣會， 拍賣品號 25上刻的菱形花紋比，本壺象背上之披飾呈現簡化，是裝飾跟藝術的分歧。幸而，這麼悅目的造型會轉移我們的注意力，我無心挑毛病。

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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