Footnotes

Treasury 2, no. 286


巧色玉髓鼻煙壺
頒賜類，1760～1860


The Belfort Manchu and Camel Chalcedony

Chalcedony; well but slightly irregularly hollowed with a recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding flat footrim; a natural darker plane in the stone edited on one side to create a midday scene of some kind of official seated on the back of a camel and holding a fruiting branch, with a racoon dog on the ground beside him, the sun above
Official school, 1760–1860
Height: 6.7 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.76/2.05 and 1.80 cm (oval)
Stopper: glass, deliberately crackled to simulate tourmaline; silver collar
Condition: a series of curving, brown flaws on the back of the bottle, one of which is set at the upper neck; a slight reflection matching it appears to be an additional slight bruise, but may be the result of the natural flaw alone; only visible in certain light, and then not obtrusive; small, recent chip in outer edge of one end of the footrim. General relative condition: good

Provenance:
Hugh Moss (1980)
Belfort Collection (1986)

Published:
JICSBS, December 1977, p. 19, no. 26
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, p. 114, no. 202
Jutheau 1980, p. 101, fig. 4
Jours de France, 17 July 1982
Très précieuses tabatières chinoises, p. 14, no. 170
The Snuff Bottle Review, March 1983, p. 14
Kleiner 1987, no. 159
1987 Exhibition Poster, London
Kleiner 1994a, p. 44
JICSBS, Autumn 1997, p. 10
Treasury 2, no. 286
Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, October–December 1978
L'Arcade Chaumet, Paris, June 1982
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Galeries Lafayette, Paris, April 1990

Commentary:
One of the masterpieces of the silhouette-agate genre, with a complex and meaningful subject achieved with astonishing clarity, this much published and exhibited bottle has so often been described as a natural or almost natural design that it has previously escaped closer examination, even by one of the present authors. Until working on this collection, there has been a tendency for anything in silhouette form to be taken for granted as being mostly natural, whereas, as we have pointed out (Treasury 2,) a great many are nothing of the sort. They are silhouettes with a thin plane of colour cut through, but at so shallow a depth, as to appear to be largely natural (see discussion under Treasury 2, no. 274). In this example, close examination reveals that only the paler muzzle of the camel, a delightful touch, has no surface editing. Even the halter which hangs from the muzzle, also in the paler colour, is edited. Another unedited element is the sun, at the neck of the bottle above the figure if, indeed, it is intended as such rather than just being leftover colour from the thin plane used for the main design.

This is one of the large group of figure subjects from the Official school, which we have suggested may have flourished during the nineteenth century, although from earlier origins (see under Treasury 2, no. 292). These figure subjects form a large sub-group of the Official school and others are nos. 128 and 129 in the J & J Collection (Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993) and in the Bloch Collection, Treasury 2, nos. 284 and 288–293. Although the recessed foot is flat, the very slightly lazy hollowing of the inner shoulders suggests a hint of decline (see discussion on Treasury 2, p. 11 and under no. 271) and this may be a late Qianlong work, or from the early nineteenth century.


Belfort氏駝獾玉髓

巧色玉髓；掏膛不整齊而徹底，平斂底、突出平底圈足，一面利用暗色材質浮雕一官吏騎駱駝，右手拿著一枝香櫞，下面有一隻狗獾跟著走，上邊有太陽或月亮

頒賜類，1760～1860
高：6.7 厘米
口經：0.76/2.05、1.80 厘米 （橢圓形）
蓋：玻璃，有摸擬碧璽的碎裂花紋，銀座
狀態敘述：反面有些黃色曲線瑕、一條接頸上部、在某種光照條件之下、好像有相配的反照、不知是天然的瑕痕還是碰傷、總是不引人注目的、圈足一端的外棱有一小、比較新的缺口。一般相對狀態：好

來源：
莫士撝（1980）
Belfort 珍藏（1986）
文獻：
《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, 1977年12 月，頁19，編號26
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 頁 114, 編號202
Jutheau 1980, 頁 101, 圖 4
Jours de France, 1982年7 月17日
Très précieuses tabatières chinoises, 頁14，編號170
The Snuff Bottle Review, 1983年3 月，頁14
Kleiner 1987, 編號159
1987年展覽海報，倫敦
Kleiner 1994a, 頁44
《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, 1997年秋期，頁10
Treasury 2, 編號286
展覽：
香港藝術館，1978年10 月至12月
L'Arcade Chaumet, 巴黎, 1982年6月
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦，1987年10 月
Galeries Lafayette, 巴黎，1990年4月

說明：
本壺是天然圖畫瑪瑙煙壺傑作之一，也是多次出版的名品，但圖畫其實不是全天然的。多數的天然圖畫瑪瑙鼻煙壺是琢磨薄薄的一片斑紋以雕出圖形的，因為浮雕特別淺，圖形好像本來就在石頭裏具備，但都是雕匠巧妙地磨掉或留存天然的斑紋而形成的。仔細地察看本壺就瞭解到，只有駱駝的鼻口部和頸部上邊的太陽或月亮才是天然的，就是鼻口部下的同顏色韁繩也是浮雕出來的。

本壺是為數眾多的頒賜類鼻煙壺之一件，我們認為這類煙壺到了十九世紀很旺盛，但其起源一定是早一點的。這種人物圖像是頒賜類常見的內容，可參照 J&J珍藏的編號128與129（Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993）和Treasury 2,編號284與288～293。本壺的斂底是平面的（這是清朝前半期多見的）而肩部的掏膛稍微馬虎（這是清朝後半期多見的）；我們猜測它不是乾隆晚年的作品就是十九世紀初的作品。