Footnotes

Treasury 7, no. 1637


青銅、銀、金懷錶鼻煙壺
宮廷作坊作，嵌銀乾隆年款，1750～1799


Frozen Time

Bronze, silver, and gold; with a flat lip and recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding convex footrim; the bronze body inlaid with silver and gold, on one main side with a copy of a European watch face with Roman numerals, the hands set at ten-fifteen, with a second hand at thirty seconds, the inlay predominantly silver but with a single gold ring around the silver arbor, and on the other with a framed, circular panel with a scholar standing outside a house and holding a long walking staff, a young attendant nearby, in a rocky landscape with lingzhi and formalized clouds, the eyes, mouth and hair-bunches of the attendant, and the eyes, mouth, hat details and belt of the scholar all inlaid in gold, the rest in silver, with a band of pendant, formalized leaf-lappets around the neck, the narrow sides with mask handles, the animal heads gilt, the rings inlaid in silver, the foot inscribed in inlaid silver, regular script, Qianlong nian zhi (Made during the Qianlong period)
Palace workshops, 1750–1799
Height: 5.16 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.70/1.12 cm
Stopper: glass
Condition: tiny dent or smoothed chip on outer lip; tiny dent on the footrim with other miniscule dents and abrasions around the footrim; one small piece of silver wire inlay missing on the side with the two figures, being a line on the inner, left-hand sleeve of the scholar, just below his belt; usual patination to the metal. General relative condition: very good


Provenance:
H. R. N. Norton
Sotheby's, London, 5 November 1963
John Sparks, Ltd
Private English collection
Sotheby's, New York, 12 October 1993, lot 260

Published:
JICSBS, Winter 1993, p. 35, fig. 6
Kleiner 1995, no. 363
Treasury 7, no. 1637

Exhibited:
British Museum, London, June-October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July-November 1997

Commentary
This is the second imperial inlaid bronze bottle decorated with a watch face in the Bloch Collection (see also Treasury 7, no. 1636). A comparison between the two is informative. Very obviously both were made at about the same time, and by the same hand, since although the two Chinese scenes are of quite different subjects, the style is identical, particularly noticeable in the way the rocks, rather strange lingzhi, and very distinctive overhead clouds are formed. Given the palace workshops system where artists prepared designs for craftsmen to follow, it is possible, of course, that we are dealing with a single designer rather than a single craftsman, but the two are so strikingly similar that we suspect they were both produced by the same team of designer, bronze caster, and inlay artist.

Both bottles have a small protuberance in exactly the same place, inside the bottle, above the centre of the foot which seems to reflect some part of the manufacturing process, but since both bottles are so supremely well finished, it is difficult to judge precisely how they were constructed, although this one does have a hint of a joint line on the inside at the narrow sides, so perhaps they were initially cast in two halves. The two are of very similar shape, but this one is a little over 2 mm. fatter, has a slightly larger body, a narrower, slightly shorter neck, and a considerably wider mouth. The two did not, therefore, come from the same mould if cast, although certainly inspired by the same formal design. Another minor difference is that the animal masks here were originally gilt, whereas they were not on the other example.

This bottle is, of course, every bit as finely made and impressive as the other one, although lacking its original stopper. It may seem a trifle greedy to have two of these extremely rare bottles in one collection, but it is the extraordinary depth of the Bloch Collection that allows us to learn so much about the arts of the snuff bottle. The information coming from our opportunity to closely examine every aspect of these two bottles alone is a useful demonstration of the value of this.


玉砌立久，頓覺時間凝

青銅、銀、金；平唇、略凸斂底、突出凸形圈足；青銅胎鑲嵌銀與金，一正面模擬洋式羅馬數字錶，時間為十點一刻三十秒，主要以銀鑲嵌，而中軸有金圈，另一正面刻劃鑲嵌學士房前杖藜徐步，有僕人陪從，園中有靈芝，天空有卷雲紋，僕人目，口，丫髻，學士目，口，帶，帽翅皆以金鑲嵌，其他以銀鑲嵌，頸飾三角形垂葉紋，兩側面有獸首啣環取，獸首描金，環嵌以金，底嵌銀 "乾隆年製"四字楷書一行橫向刻款

宮廷作坊作：1750～1799
高：5.16 厘米
口經/唇經：0.70/1.12 厘米
蓋：玻璃
狀態敘述：唇緣有修平的缺口或凹痕，圈足有些微小的凹痕和擦痕，學士左袖嵌銀絲有脫落處，金屬胎呈現通常的銹彩；一般相對的狀態：很好

來源：
H. R. N. Norton
蘇富比，倫敦，1963，11月5日
John Sparks, Ltd
英國私人珍藏
蘇富比，紐約，1993年10月12日，拍賣品號260
文獻：
《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, 1993年冬期，頁35，圖6
Kleiner 1995, 編號363
Treasury 7， 編號1637
展覽﹕
大英博物館, 倫敦, 1995年6月～10 月
Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年7月～11月

說明：
這是伯樂珍藏第二件青銅胎填嵌懷錶；第一件是Treasury 7，編號1636。把兩件比較一下會有所發現。兩者顯然是同時期作的。嵌飾的圖像內容不一樣，但是坡石、古怪的靈芝、和上邊的雲頭的描繪式樣是一致的。也許不過是同一個人設計的，但是我們想它們大概是同一隊設計師、青銅澆鑄師、與填嵌匠製造的。

兩件內壁，底中心上邊都同樣有一小處突起的地方，未知是怎麼回事，可推測是跟製作過程有關係的。因為它們都修飾得那麼細緻，猜測它們的製作工序真不容易。內壁呈接縫線的細微跡象，意味著原來是澆鑄兩片的。兩件形式並不完全一樣，本壺身稍微豐圓，壺身大點，頸部短點，口比較寬，顯然不出於一個模子。

另外，本壺的獸首耳本來描金，Treasury 7，編號1636的則不描金。那件帶原件蓋，本件則不帶。

一個收藏家得到兩件那麼珍稀的鼻煙壺也許會顯得貪婪無厭，但只有利用一個如此縱向發展的收藏系列，才能對可比配的煙壺來作這樣細心的比較，可以瞭解到很多知識。