Footnotes

Treasury 5, no. 853

寶藍玻璃鼻煙壺

Lavender Abundance

Translucent, lavender-blue glass, with an inner layer of paler, whitish lavender-blue; with a flat lip; carved on one main side with a frog on a lotus leaf growing from a group of severed, tied stems, with a lotus flower, a lotus pod and a stem of polygonum, one of the stems supporting the leaf which encloses the base to form a naturalistic foot, the other main side with a fenghuang in a bamboo grove, also, seemingly coming from the lotus leaf at the base
Condition: workshop condition
1740–1790
Height: 5.19 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.80/1.68 cm
Stopper: tourmaline; silver collar

Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong (1993)

Published:
Kleiner 1995, no. 143
Treasury 5, no. 853

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

Commentary
A bottle of identical subject and similar quality is published from the J & J Collection (Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, no. 374), although it was a red and green double overlay on a bubble-suffused colourless ground. The distinctive satiny polish on this bottle, combined with impeccable quality of carving and extraordinary integrity of the ground plane also link it to Treasury 5, nos. 841 and 848, for both of which we proposed a palace origin. This particular style of carving, with its perfect control, superbly even ground plane, high level of artistry and soft, satiny polish appears in other examples. Some of these are in imperial yellow, suggesting the entire group may possess a courtly link more difficult to derive from any single example. While the imperial glassworks seems a sensible provenance for the group, a series of further comparisons face us with the familiar dilemma: if we attribute this one to the court, we end up attributing just about any fine glass in the same way.

None of the related carvings is less than masterly and this is no exception, but it brings to the equation a colour of the same range as Treasury 5, no. 690, rare in glass generally, and even more so in carved glass. A Qianlong date for the group seems entirely reasonable and it may even be from the earlier part of the reign, if the evidence of Treasury 5, no. 848, with its crizzling, is to be relied upon. Yang Boda believes that early Qianlong represents the peak of palace glass production, and we agree that it is rarely surpassed. We also believe, however, that in the production of glass snuff bottles - notably in their carving - very high standards were sustained to the end of the century and even beyond, while other palace arts, particularly painting with enamels, declined from their early Qianlong perfection. It is worth emphasizing, yet again, the difference between glassmaking and lapidary carving. The early Qianlong period may have seen the zenith of glassmaking skills at court, but lapidary skills were maintained at a very high level into the early nineteenth century.

The lotus (lian) leaf and frog (wa) constitute a rebus for 'continuous (lian) offspring (wa),' while the fenghuang and bamboo (zhu) stand for abundance (fengzu). Apart from being one of the finest of carved glass snuff bottles in a gorgeous and rare colour, this bottle is also endowed with encouraging symbolism - mutual love, progeny, and abundance.

寶藍豐足

半透明寶藍玻璃和灰藍色的內層；平唇，一正面雕荷花蕾、荷藕、紅蓼、兩荷葉，一葉上有青蛙，一葉包圍底，成為象形的足，另一面雕竹林中的鳳凰

1740～1790
長：5.19厘米
口經/唇經：0.80/1.68 厘米
蓋：碧璽，銀座
狀態敘述：出坊狀況

來源：
Hugh M. Moss Ltd, 香港 (1993)

文獻：
Kleiner 1995, 編號143
Treasury 5, 編號853

展覽：
大英博物館, 倫敦, 1995年6月～10 月
Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年

說明：
J & J 珍藏中有同題、品質相近的鼻煙壺（Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, 編號374），不過，那是紅與綠二層套料煙壺。本壺雕刻的風格、平坦的壺面、高超的藝術效果、柔軟潤透的光澤，都出現在別的品質好的玻璃煙壺，有的是皇家專用的黃色，但這是否表示它們都是朝廷玻璃廠的產品很難說。本壺也許應該確定為乾隆時期作的，楊伯達認為乾隆早期是皇家玻璃廠的高峰潮；我們同意，能超越那時期水平的玻璃品極少。但是我們總是要區別玻璃製造術和雕琢術，後者一直到十九世紀初也保持在一個很高的水平。