Footnotes

Treasury 6, no. 1209


模製瓷胎琺瑯彩獅子戲球鼻煙壺
景德鎮，鐵紅嘉慶年款，1796～1820

Crowded House

Famille rose enamels on colourless glaze on porcelain; with a slightly convex lip and concave foot surrounded by a convex footrim; moulded and painted with a continuous design of nine Buddhist lions playing with five beribboned brocade balls on a lower plane of formalized clouds, with some of the upper plane of detail undercut to leave it free standing, framed between bands of formalized lingzhi, the neck with a band of continuous leiwen (thunder pattern); the lip, footrim and neck rim painted gold; the foot inscribed in iron-red seal script, Jiaqing nian zhi (Made during the Jiaqing period); the interior unglazed
Imperial kilns, Jingdezhen, 1796–1820
Height: 6.85 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.6/2.0 cm
Stopper: iron-red and gold enamel on colourless glaze on porcelain, moulded with a formalized chrysanthemum design; original
Condition: small chip on outer root rim restored (0.4 cm x 0.1 cm); gold enamel on lip and footrim worn away to some extent. General relative condition, extremely good for a moulded porcelain. Original stopper perfect except for some wear on the gold of the knob and the red underside

Provenance:
Gerd Lester (1986)

Published:
Treasury 6, no. 1209

Commentary:
One of the popular subjects for moulded porcelain snuff bottles from the Jiaqing reign was that of nine Buddhist lions. It occurs in an earlier, smaller version (Chinese Snuff Bottles, no. 5: p.48, fig. 8) but the most common design is this one of nine beasts and five balls composed around a compressed spherical form. Bottles with this design frequently bear the Jiaqing reign mark, as here and on Treasury 6, no. 1210, which is from the same mould as this one, demonstrating, yet again, the range of different decorative techniques that might arise from a single mould. There is also one in the Bragge Album (for the album, see Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, no. 481, and JICSBS, Winter 2006). The drawings in the Bragge Album are sometimes very accurate, but in some cases the artist may have lowered his standards. In the watercolour of this mould, for instance, although the lions are in much the same positions, the formalized lingzhi design around the base is unlike any real moulded porcelain bottle known and around the shoulders is left unfinished. One wonders if the artist simply lost interest in this peripheral detail, or was called away to tea and forgot that he had not quite finished the painting. It is possible that the original bottle was unfinished, but why would the enameller get to that stage and stop within half an hour or so of a completed bottle?

Others of this composition are in Fuller 1970, pl. 63, centre; Ford 1982, no. 159, and, apparently from the same mould (in the Andrew Graham Collection), Stevens 1976, no. 284. There is an intriguing example in the imperial collection, probably from the same mould as the present one, in Li Jiufang 2002, no. 330. It is intriguing because it is well worn, whereas most of the porcelain bottles in the collection do not look as if they have seen much use. It also bears the Jiaqing reign mark that appears on most of them.

This is another of the moulded porcelain bottles in the Bloch Collection that remains in kiln condition, complete with its original stopper. We noted on Treasury 6, no. 1204 the unusual enamelling of the middle plane of clouds; there is a still rarer phenomenon here. The enameller has painted the lowest plane green, leaving the median plane of clouds white. It is an extremely unusual, but very effective, variation. One feature of original stoppers for this type of bottle is that the underside of the stopper, the part that comes into contact with the lip, is often enamelled with a thin layer of colour, iron-red, turquoise, or gold being the most common.
A design depicting nine (jiu) frolicking lions (shizi) is a visual pun for the idiomatic expression Jiushi tongju (Nine generations living together). It conveys the wish for perpetuating a family line. More significantly, it also stresses the importance of harmony within a family.


滿堂獅子滾繡球

瓷胎，無色釉上施粉彩；略凸唇、凹底、凸形圈足；模印、畫通體九隻獅子戲五個繡球，下層雕鏤為雲形地紋，上層有近乎圓雕之處，肩部與近圈足處刻有如意雲頭各一週，頸部有雷紋一道；唇與圈足外壁塗金，底鐵紅書"嘉慶年製"四字篆款

景德鎮官窯，1796～1820
高：6.85 厘米
口經/唇經：0.6/2.0厘米
蓋：陶瓷器，無色釉上施鐵紅與金琺瑯，模印形式化的菊花，原件
狀態敘述：圈足沿有小缺口修復處，0.4 x 0.1厘米，唇與圈足金彩有一定的磨耗；一般性相對的狀態：就模印陶瓷器來說，極佳；蓋子除頂鈕金彩與底下紅色有所磨損外，完整

來源：
Gerd Lester (1986)
文獻﹕
Treasury 6， 編號1209

說明：
嘉慶時期模製瓷胎鼻煙壺最流行的題材之一就是九隻獅子。有規模小的早期樣式，如 Chinese Snuff Bottles 5, 頁48，圖8，但最普遍的還是扁圓形式呈九隻獅子滾五個繡球的圖案。這種設計的煙壺常常有嘉慶年款；以同模子異色彩的Treasury 6， 編號1210與Bragge畫集的編號481為例.。有關Bragge畫集，參閱Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993 和《國際中國鼻煙壺協會的學術期刊》Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, 2006年冬期。Bragge畫集冊子，精畫千幅，必有一失，本模子的圖畫中如意雲頭畫亂了，肩部的紋飾也沒畫完，讓人莫名其妙。

同圖稿可參照Fuller 1970, 插圖63中心，Ford 1982, 編號159，和Alexander Graham珍藏似乎為同一個模子出的一件，Stevens 1976, 編號284。李久芳 2002，編號330大概是同模子出的，但磨損頗多，在故宮珍藏的鼻煙壺中，這是例外的。跟一般的同設計煙壺一樣，它也帶嘉慶年款。

本壺跟很多伯樂珍藏的煙壺一樣，保留出窯狀態，甚至帶原件的蓋子。座與唇接觸處塗了色彩虹，這是此類煙壺典型的方法。頗突出的是，琺瑯匠內層上施綠色，中層的雲紋是白色的，這形成了很有效的對比。