Footnotes

Treasury 5, no. 772


仿雄黃玻璃雕詒晉齋款鼻煙壺
推定為北京御用玻璃作坊作品，1780～1823


Imperial Favour

Opaque and semi-translucent, variegated orange and yellow-ochre glass (known as 'realgar-glass'); with a flat lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding convex footrim; the foot inscribed in relief seal script, Yi Jin zhai (Studio where the Jin [dynasty calligraphic heritage] is Preserved), set in a recessed rectangular cartouche
Attributed to the imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1780–1823
Height: 5.3 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.54/1.32 cm
Stopper: coral; pearl finial; turquoise collar
Condition: shallow bruise in outer lip with only miniscule chips missing, but the cracks from the bruise going down the neck 0.4 cm; barely visible with the naked eye but just apparent under magnification; normal surface scratching and abrasions from long use, none of it obtrusive


Illustration: watercolour by Peter Suart

Provenance:
Hugh Moss (1987)

Published:
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, no. 81
Treasury 5, no. 772

Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, October- December 1978

Commentary:
The Bloch Collection includes two bottles with wholly convincing Yi Jin zhai marks (see Treasury 2, no. 358 for the other). We explained under that entry that the Yi Jin zhai belonged to Yongxing (1752–1823), the eleventh son of the Qianlong emperor who, in 1789, became the First Prince Cheng. Serving in a number of posts under his father from 1779 onwards, he accompanied him on several official tours (for further biographical details, see Treasury 2, no. 358). Since the publication of these examples there has been an unpleasant rash of bottles far less credibly inscribed with this hall name, some, indeed, added to old agate bottles with decoration recently carved. Collectors would be prudent to avoid catching this rash. We would not claim that there can be only two genuinely marked bottles bearing this studio name, but we believe that others published since are either forgeries or, at best, highly questionable.

Belonging to the prince, being of realgar-glass, and bearing imperial style mask-and-ring handles, this bottle justifies an attribution to the imperial glassworks. Although the mark does not imply that the bottle was specifically made for the prince, we think it probably was. Under high magnification it becomes clear that the style of carving and polishing of the mask-and-ring handles is identical to that of the mark, the two appearing to have been executed at the same time, in the same lapidary workshop. While the remote possibility remains that Yongxing found an old, plain realgar-glass bottle and ordered the lapidary to add both the mask-and-ring handles and the mark, this seems unlikely. The masks (and, of course, the mark) were added subsequently to any bottle blown into a mould, whether hours or decades later. Quite apart from the obvious logic of this, the handles supply supporting evidence. Where the masks have been cut from the existing, fairly thin walls of the bottle, they are surrounded by areas of glass which, viewed with transmitted light, are seen to be not only much thinner, but of translucent ruby-red rather than the opaque orange of the main body. We have mentioned the use of ruby-red in the manufacture of realgar- glass elsewhere (see under Treasury 5, nos. 703 and 704), and since no obvious layer of this colour is revealed among the concentric circles round the mouth, we assume that it was a part of the mixture revealed only where the glass is thin enough to allow translucence.



永瑆之仿雄黃玻璃煙壺

不透明與半透明仿雄黃玻璃；平唇、平斂底、突出凸形圈足；底浮雕"詒晉齋"有框三字篆款

推定為北京御用玻璃作坊作品，1780～1823
高：5.3 厘米
口經/唇經：0.54/1.32 厘米
蓋：珊瑚，珍珠頂飾，綠松石座
狀態敘述：唇沿一傷痕，雖只有微乎其微的缺口，頸部卻有0.4厘米的縫隙由碰痕而下，肉眼難辨，放大就依稀可見；本壺因長久的觸摸有常見的擦痕和碰痕，但都不引人注目

有彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫

來源：
莫士撝（1987）
文獻：
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 編號81
Treasury 5， 編號772
展覽﹕
香港藝術館，1978年10 月～12月

說明：
"詒晉齋"主人就是愛新覺羅．永瑆（1752～1853），清高宗第十一子，封成親王。伯樂珍藏收有兩件帶使人信服的"詒晉齋"款的鼻煙壺，本件和一件玉髓煙壺（Treasury 2， 編號358）。這兩件發表後，就湧出了一連串的可疑的帶詒晉齋款的煙壺，有的明明是新雕飾的舊瑪瑙壺。我們不敢說伯樂珍藏外沒有孑遺的詒晉齋煙壺，可是行家要謹防假冒詒晉齋煙壺的。

本壺歸永瑆所有，是仿雄黃玻璃作的，呈宮廷式獸首啣環耳，本壺當然可推測為宮廷作坊的產品。我們不能確保這件壺是為永瑆製作的，但把獸首啣環耳和款識放大就可見，它們的雕磨格調是一致的，款識一定不是後加的。永瑆撿了舊的仿雄黃玻璃煙壺，讓雕工加上環耳、款識，可能是可能，但是我們認為可能性並不大。

用透射光來照，獸首啣環保耳周圍的仿雄黃玻璃呈半透明紅寶石色。這是因為這種雕飾工作是煙壺在模子裏吹成了以後才作的，而被修飾的器壁必然削薄一點。仿雄黃玻璃以不同顏色玻璃攪成，本壺口沿同軸的圓圈看不到紅寶石色，好像只有刮薄的地方才顯露。