Footnotes

• Treasury 5, no. 814
  
  透明紅玻璃荷花鯉魚鼻煙壺
  御用玻璃廠，北京，1730～1780
  
  A glass 'lotus and fish' snuff bottle
  
  Transparent, pale ruby-pink glass with a few sparsely scattered small air bubbles; with a flat lip and slightly recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding footrim made up of elements of the design; carved on each main side with a convex circular panel, one containing a lotus plant, the other a carp set above formalized waves from which grow reeds, enclosed within a simulated rope frame, the narrow sides with three panels, all framed within similar rope borders and containing six of the Eight Buddhist Emblems with the wheel, the canopy, and the endless knot on one side, and the conch shell, umbrella, and vase on the other, the neck with a border of raised beads beneath a further rope border at the upper neck rim
  Imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1730-1780
  Height: 5.9 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.90/1.64 cm
  Stopper: jadeite; gilt-bronze collar
  
  Condition: There is a tiny 0.1cm chip to the rope frame at the bottom of the bottle. There is scratching and wear from use. Otherwise, workshop condition
  
  Illustration: watercolour by Peter Suart
  
  Provenance:
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1973)
  Irving Lindzon
  Christie's, London, 12 October 1987, lot 303
  
  Published:
  JICSBS, Winter-Spring 1983, p. 29, fig. 2
  JICSBS, Winter 1987, p. 29
  Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 70
  Treasury 5, no. 814
  
  Exhibited:
  Creditanstalt, Vienna, May-June 1993
  Hong Kong Museum of Art, March-June 1994
  National Museum, Singapore, November 1994-February 1995
  
  This is one of a series of Imperial bottles that we believe were probably produced during the Qianlong era, possibly beginning quite early in the reign. Usually of this substantial size, they have wide mouths and are made from a range of colourless glass mixed with just enough ruby-red (derived from colloidal gold) to render the material completely transparent while lending it a ruby blush. An almost identical bottle is to be found in the J & J Collection (Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, no. 355, where we cite many others and discuss the group, although we have revised our dating a little since then). The same design is also found in other colours including yellow, which reinforces the Imperial attribution (the Smith Collection, in the Field Museum, Chicago, JICSBS, June 1972, p. 15, fig. 1), as does extensive use of rope borders, a known feature of palace decoration during the eighteenth century.
  
  We noted in relation to the J & J example that only six of the Eight Buddhist Emblems, symbols of a generally auspicious nature, were depicted on the narrow sides, because only six panels remained for decoration given that the foot and neck took up one panel each. The missing symbols—the pair of fish and the lotus—were cleverly represented by the subjects on the main-side panels.
  
  This series of bottles was obviously made from the same original design, and many may have been blown into the same mould, although all surface decoration is added by the lapidary, evidence of which is supplied by differences in the carving. It seems likely that once the design was approved, an order was placed for a quantity that, since so many have survived from the eighteenth century, must have been substantial. The ruby-blush glass is so distinctive and so similar across the pink examples (despite differences in the variegation between pink and colourless glass, and varying intensities of the pinks themselves) that they may have been the result of a single, artistic impulse rather than a standard repeated over a long period.
  
  They remain one of the loveliest groups of Imperial, faceted glass bottles and are uniformly impressive, with excellent formal integrity and superb carving. Doubtless, they were originally endowed with a lovely surface polish, both inside and out, which is characteristic of most of the surviving examples.
  
  透明紅玻璃荷花鯉魚鼻煙壺
  
  透明淡紅寶石紅玻璃，含零零星星的小氣泡；平唇，微凸斂底， 突出圈足；兩正面刻雙道綯紋框凸面開光，一面刻荷花，一面刻鯉魚，側面則雕佛教八寶的六個﹕輪、蓋、盤長及螺、傘、瓶，唇外沿雕綯紋一周
  御用玻璃廠，北京，1730-1780
  高﹕ 5.9 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.90/1.64 厘米
  蓋﹕ 翡翠； 鎏金青銅座
  
  狀態敘述： 於壺底綯紋處有一個微小缺口 (0.1厘米)，壺身帶點磨痕，此外，出廠狀態
  
  帶有彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫
  
  來源:
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1973)
  Irving Lindzon
  倫敦佳士得， 1987年10月2日，拍賣品號 303
  
  文獻﹕
  《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 1983年冬春期，頁 29, 圖 2
  《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 1987年冬期，頁 29
  Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, 編號 70
  Treasury 5, 編號 814
  
  展覽﹕
  Creditanstalt, 維也納， 1993年5月～6月
  香港藝術館，1994年3月～6月
  National Museum of Singapore,1994年11月～1995年2 月
  
  很像的一件鼻煙壺有如Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, 編號 355，同造型的有史密斯珍藏，菲爾德博物館所藏的一件柘黃玻璃鼻煙壺﹕《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 1972年6月，頁 15, 圖 1)。綯紋邊框是十八世紀宮廷式圖案的一個特點。
  
  佛教八寶剩下的，即側面沒有雕出來的，就是正面的蓮、魚。

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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