Footnotes

• The high quality construction of the current snuff bottle, combined with the precision and beauty of the enamelling, rank it alongside the highest quality enamel on glass bottles from the Qianlong period. For another gold enamel on glass bottle decorated with swallows and flowers from the Qing court collection(fig.1), preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, p.107, pl.64; and The National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art, Issue No. 353, August 2012, p.49, pl.5.
  
  For an example sold at auction, see a famille-rose and gold enamel on glass snuff bottle from the Liu Wen-choo (pre 1911) collection, illustrated by Moss, Graham and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol.6, Arts of the Fire, Hong Kong, 2006, pp.141-142, no.1072, and sold in these rooms, 23 November 2010, lot 152.
  
  Another enamel on glass example, with four raised 'bird and flower' panels on a gold ground, but with different flowers, is illustrated by Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles VII, The art of an Imperial Addiction, London, 1995, pp.43, 45, 47 and 49, no. 6, where the author outlines how it was formerly in the collection of Zhang Zhongyin, who opened an antiques and ancient carvings shop in the fourteenth year of the Guangxu reign, 1888. For the story of how Zhang acquired the bottle, see ibid, pp.41-42.
  
  Although there is no definitive evidence of what Ye Bengqi produced in his private kiln in the early 20th century, the style of enamelling and rendition of key decorative elements on this bottle, particularly the pheasants, closely matches other bottles attributed to Ye Bengqi by Hugh Moss, illustrated in The Apricot Grove Studio, Part III, Enamelled Glass Wares, The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Journal, Autumn 1985, Volume XVII, Number 3, pp. 122-124, figs. 346, 347 and 349.
  
  玻璃畫琺瑯描金開光花鳥鼻煙壺 藍彩「乾隆年製」楷書款
  
  壺白玻璃作胎，瓶形，口微撇，折肩，下腹內斂，圓圈足。壺身除頸部以外，通體飾金彩，再以琺瑯彩繪纏枝蓮紋及寶相花紋飾，四面塑凸起長方形開光，每面開光內以琺瑯彩繪燕子分別停歇在海棠、月季、牡丹花枝之上，富有「白頭富貴」或「富貴長春」之意。圈足內藍彩書「乾隆年製」四字楷書款。
  
  本壺高質素之製造，亮麗鮮明的琺瑯彩，可媲美乾隆年製之宮廷鼻煙壺，見國立台北故宮博物院藏玻璃胎畫琺瑯花鳥鼻煙壺(fig.1)，載於國立台北故宮博物院，《故宮鼻煙壺》，台北，1992，頁107，圖版64及《故宮文物月刊》，編號33，2012年8月，頁49，圖版5。
  
  本壺之金彩之部份，可與之瑪麗與莊智博珍藏之玻璃胎畫琺瑯開光蓮花鼻煙壺比較，該壺本是Liu Wen-choo於1911年以前收藏下來的, 見莫士撝, Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶著，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，第6冊，頁141-142，編號1072，及後拍賣於香港邦瀚斯，2010年11月23日，拍品編號152。
  
  本壺造形獨特，現今可見的近似例子不多，只見一例，曾載於Robert Hall，《Chinese Snuff Bottles VII, The art of an Imperial Addiction》，倫敦，1995，頁43,45,47及49，編號 6。該壺四面也飾有長方形開光，上繪花烏圖，與本壺唯有可同的是地為金地百花紋，是流傳自在光緒時期(1875-1908)的張姓古董商，詳細流傳經過，見同上，頁41-42。
  
  雖然沒有證據知道葉菶祺在20世紀初所製造之玻璃畫琺瑯鼻煙壺是怎樣，但本壺之畫風，尤其小鳥之畫法，與另一些(傳)葉菶祺所畫的十分相似，參考例子載於莫士撝，《The Apricot Grove Studio, Part III, Enamelled Glass Wares》，載於《The International Chinese Snuff Bottle Journal》，1985年秋季刊，第17冊，編號3，頁122-124，圖版346，347及349。

Auction Notices

• Please note that the estimate published in the printed catalogue is incorrect. The estimate published on the Internet - HK$300,000-500,000 - is correct.

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Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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