Footnotes

• Treasury 1, no. 282
  
  瑪瑙巧雕猴鹿蝶禽圖鼻煙壺
  頒賜品，1770～1880
  
  An agate 'monkeys, deer, butterfly, and bird' snuff bottle
  
  Dendritic agate; irregularly hollowed, with a concave lip and recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding, irregularly carved flat footrim; the natural markings in the stone edited to create a scene of two monkeys with sticks chasing butterflies and with a bird, a stag, and a tree
  Official School, 1770–1880
  Height: 7.92 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.82/2.51 and 2.44 cm (oval)
  Stopper: tourmaline; silver collar
  
  Condition: Slightly irregular outer footrim suggests the possibility, in one case, the certainty, of some chips having been polished out; small piece missing from the tree branch near to the trunk; natural flaw line on the back. General relative condition: good
  
  Provenance:
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1994)
  
  Published:
  Kleiner 1995, no. 269
  JICSBS, Autumn 1997, p. 8
  Treasury 1, no. 282
  
  Exhibited:
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  This unusually large silhouette agate bottle is one of the more complex designs in the entire field and certainly one of the most charming. The markings are unusually dark, almost black, and the design, although appearing to be largely natural, is in fact considerably edited, leaving a distinctly undulating surface. Planes of paler colour in the stone create a ground for the main subject, providing a rock on which the monkeys climb and a receding plane for the deer, adding depth to the otherwise flat, silhouette scene, and this is continued on the reverse with a natural cliff overhang, complete with foliage in dendritic markings defining one side of a gorge.
  
  An agate snuff bottle with the same auspicious combination of motifs is in the National Palace Museum. The insects are identified by the museum as butterflies, and indeed they no more resemble bees or wasps than the insects on this bottle, but we should note that bees and monkeys are a common rebus for 'enfeoffment as a marquis', a standard wish for career advancement. The bird is properly understood as a magpie (que), which with a deer (lu) is a common rebus for juelu, 'noble rank and the salary pertaining thereto'.
  
  瑪瑙巧雕猴鹿蝶禽鼻煙壺
  
  含樹枝狀斑紋的瑪瑙；掏膛不規整，凹唇，斂凸底，突出不規整的平底圈足，俏作兩猴拿著枝條追蝴蝶，有鳥、鹿、樹
  頒賜品， 1770–1880
  高﹕ 7.92 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.82/2.51 及 2.44 厘米 (橢圓形)
  蓋﹕ 碧璽；銀座
  
  狀態敘述：不規則的圈足外壁或多或少是缺口磨平的痕跡，近樹幹的枝落了一塊，反面有天然的裂隙。一般性相對的狀態：良好
  
  來源:
  Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1994)
  
  文獻﹕
  Kleiner 1995, 編號 269
  《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》, 1997年秋期，頁8
  Treasury 1, 編號 282
  
  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
  
  這件格外大的巧作鼻煙壺具特別復雜的設計，而且是非常討人喜愛的。圖案好像是天成的，但其實有相當的人工，壺外壁凹凸不平。
  
  臺灣國立故宮博物院 藏有同裝飾圖案的瑪瑙鼻煙壺 。博物院長的說明確定那件壺上的飛蟲是蝴蝶 ，而它們的確不像蜂，但我們要提醒一下，蜂跟猴常常寓意"封侯"；同樣，喜鵲和鹿寓意喜和祿或"爵祿"。

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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