Footnotes

• Treasury 2, no. 344
  
  瑪瑙布袋形鼻煙壺
  或御製品，頒賜品，1730～1850
  
  An agate 'purse' snuff bottle
  
  Agate; extremely well hollowed, with a flat lip and very slightly concave foot; carved in the form of a fabric purse, gathered at the neck
  Possibly Imperial, Official School, 1730–1850
  Height: 4.61 cm
  Mouth/lip: 0.72/1.89 and 1.62 cm (oval)
  Stopper: coral; turquoise finial; stained bone or ivory collar
  
  Condition: Barely perceptible chip to outer lip; small crack inner lip, possible natural flaw; otherwise, workshop condition
  
  Provenance:
  Sotheby's, London, 2 May 1985, lot 428
  
  Published:
  Kleiner 1995, no. 259
  Treasury 2, no. 344
  
  Exhibited:
  British Museum, London, June–October 1995
  Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997
  
  This is one of a series of bottles of purse or pouch form based on the popular belt-purses worn as part of Qing official paraphernalia. This example is well carved and hollowed, and also appears to have been made originally in this form. In recent years, old plain agate and chalcedony bottles have been re-carved in China and Hong Kong to make them more saleable. Among them is a series of pleated purses of this type. This example is unusual in the manner in which the pleats have been carved. No. 239 represents the standard way of pleating the shoulders for a hardstone simulation of a purse, with a series of channels carved vertically from the neck to about the mid-way point of the body where they peter out to blend with the plain surface of the lower area. Here the process is quite the opposite and more painstaking. A series of raised pleats has been left in relief and then the larger gaps between them have been scalloped out with concave curves. Both peter out at about the same point, but it is a quite different idea of arriving at a similar visual effect. This example is also unusually small for the shape, the standard being closer to no. 239.
  
  Bottles of this form appear to have been made by the Official School, possibly at the court workshops, but they may also have been made elsewhere as we believe that the Official School represents a genre of bottle made in a variety of different workshops rather than a group produced by a single workshop (see discussion under no. 258).
  
  There is an example of this form in banded agate in the Imperial collection (Gugong bowuyuan 1995, no. 138). For a portrait of an official wearing pouches and taking snuff from a bottle held in his hand, see Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, front cover).
  
  瑪瑙布袋形鼻煙壺
  
  瑪瑙；掏膛非常規整，平唇，微斂底，雕一口布袋
  或為御製品，頒賜品， 1730–1850
  高﹕ 4.61 厘米
  口徑/唇徑： 0.72/1.89 及 1.62 厘米 (橢圓形)
  蓋﹕ 珊瑚；綠松石頂飾，染色骨或染色象雅座
  
  狀態敘述：唇外緣有微乎其微的缺口，內唇呈小裂縫，可能是天然的瑕疵
  
  來源:
  倫敦蘇富比，1985年5月2日，拍賣品號 428
  
  文獻﹕
  Kleiner 1995, 編號 259
  Treasury 2, 編號 344
  
  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
  
  這是綬囊形的一組鼻煙壺之一，雕琢精工，掏膛完整，而且這好像是它原來的形式。近來有許多無紋瑪瑙和玉髓煙壺在香港和中國被重新雕刻來適應市場的要求，其中有不少綬囊形的。因為重新雕刻的舊壺本來具有規範的底足和圓形的頸部，新刻的褶子會呈現不同的拋光情形，在重琢的地方，年來積累的微小擦痕就在一定的程度上會消失。收藏家用高倍放大鏡也許會看得出來，但滿腹詭計的捏造者一定會使整體的拋光一致。收藏家還可以注意形式上的不一致性。如果原足給消除的，底部壁會減削厚度，會比腹壁薄點。在原作，應該是底比腹壁厚。
  
  Treasury 2, 編號239代表玉石綬囊打襉法的規格，從頸到腹中部刻有縱向的凹槽；本壺的刻法比較費力，是浮雕的褶襉之間琢磨微凸形的地。Treasury 2, 編號239 的大小也是比較一般的，本壺卻是綬囊形煙壺中相當小的。
  
  故宮珍藏有瑪瑙玉帶紋的例子 (故宮博物院 1995, 編號138)。

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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