Footnotes

Treasury 3, no. 417


孔雀石鼻煙壺
御製品，1730～1830


The Belfort Imperial Malachite

Malachite; reasonably well hollowed with a flat lip and concave foot
Imperial, 1730–1830
Height: 5.56 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.64/1.98 cm
Stopper: mother-of-pearl; turquoise finial; coral collar
Condition: The material: with some irregular areas around the edges of the various 'cells' of coloured stone, not obtrusive; practically invisible, very shallow, miniscule chip in the outer lip; tiny irregular chip (0.2 x 0.3 cm) in the middle of the foot; usual patina of tiny scratches and wear to the soft material, none of it obtrusive. General relative condition: extremely good

Provenance:
Y. F. Yang (1977)
Belfort Collection
Published:
L'Estampille, February 1979, p. 44
Distance, April–May 1979, p. 32
Jutheau 1980, p. 119, fig. 1
Kleiner 1987, no. 180
Treasury 3, no. 417, and front and back covers
Exhibited:
L'Arcade Chaumet, Paris, June 1982
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, London, 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993

Commentary
Malachite is a hydrated copper carbonate occurring typically in the oxidation zone of copper deposits where it is associated with other ores of copper and is the product of their alteration. It is a soft stone, about 4 on the Mohs scale, and easily scratched with a steel blade. It is of widespread occurrence, found as a rule wherever copper is found. One major deposit is found in the Ural mountains in Russia. It is not one of the minerals listed as being mined in Xinjiang, but copper is found in various parts of China, such as in Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Tibet, and Yunnan, where there are extensive deposits. Some of these areas became major producers of malachite in very recent times; Yangchun in Guangdong, for example, began mining it only in 1966. But surely the odd piece was picked up in these areas and presented to the court before systematic production began. Malachite is found at the sites of Shang dynasty copper works and was also ground up and used in as a pigment for architectural painting and other applications. The commentary on this bottle in Treasury 3 may be consulted for additional information.

Malachite snuff bottles are rare, considering how readily available the material must have been. It is likely that its softness and brittleness may have depleted an originally larger body of examples, as with other fragile stones, or it may be that it was simply not used so often for carving bottles. There are none listed in the Bragge Collection in 1880 (see under Treasury 3, no. 401) and the stone is not mentioned by Zhao Zhiqian in the 1860s (JICSBS, Autumn 1991). Early examples are rare, considerably rarer, for instance, than early turquoise bottles. Stevens 1976 illustrates only two (nos. 629 and 669) while including ten early turquoise bottles. For other examples of this rare group, see Friedman 1990, no. 59; Lawrence 1996, no. 34; Sotheby's, London, 24 April 1989, lot 432, and Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 1, p. 19, middle left.

None of these are of a material like this, distinguished by its extraordinary agate-like markings of evenly distributed dark, almost black, and bright green striated patches with small 'eyes' dotted throughout the material quite spectacularly. There is, however, one other that is exactly like this material. It is the only malachite published from the imperial collection, in this case from the Beijing portion (Gugong bowuyuan 1995, no. 148), of a shape which is typical of palace glass bottles and with a delightfully outrageous gilt-bronze and coral imperial stopper. Two Qianlong-marked glass bottles of similar profile, although both are a little more bulbous, are in Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, nos. 67 and 69 to establish an imperial form. Even without the material coincidence, this beautifully made compressed oval form would be standard for imperial production which lends credence to an imperial attribution even if we are not so certain where it was made.

It is, formally, one of the finest of all malachite snuff bottles, although some of those cited above have been compromised by having chips trimmed from the neck, or other re-carving to remove the inevitable attrition of time with this delicate material. This one is, miraculously, still in excellent condition and entirely of its original form.

Of all malachite bottles, this has the most extraordinary potential for ink-play games (see discussion under Treasury 2, no. 274). The 'eyes' and feathery natural markings allow a wonderful interpretation as various birds. Chickens, a waddle of baby ducks, an owl, and a rather alarming buzzard all leap from the stone immediately, but the longer one looks, the more they metamorphose into other birds and groups of birds. It is one of the most psychedelic of all natural ink-play snuff bottles.


Belfort氏御製孔雀石

孔雀石；掏膛適當，平唇、略內凹底

御製品，1730～1830
高：5.56厘米
口經/唇經：0.64/1.98 厘米
蓋：珍珠母，綠松石頂飾，珊瑚座
狀態敘述：材料面有裂隙網羅，不引人注目，唇沿有微乎其微的缺口，底心有微小不整齊的缺口 (0.2 x 0.3 厘米)，材料硬度不高，呈現期待中的細小擦痕與磨損，也不引人注目；一般相對的狀態：極善

來源：
Y. F. Yang (1977)
Belfort 珍藏
文獻：
L'Estampille, 1979年2 月， 頁44
Distance, 1979年，4月～5 月，頁32
Jutheau 1980, 頁 119, 圖 1
Kleiner 1987, 編號180
Treasury 3, 編號417、封面、封底
展覽﹕
L'Arcade Chaumet, 巴黎, 1982年6月
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦, 1987年10 月
Creditanstalt, 維也納, 1993年5月～6月

說明：
孔雀石是鹼性含水的碳酸銅，硬度3.5到4。其產地為賽浦勒斯、俄羅斯、剛果等，俄羅斯的烏拉爾山脈是清朝孔雀石的來源可能是可能，但國內也有廣東、湖北、江西、內蒙古、甘肅、西藏、雲南等地方出產孔雀石。有的地區是最近幾十年才有較大的礦山產量，如廣東有名的陽春孔雀石1966年才開始開采，可是那些地區歷來一定會有偶爾撿起孔雀石進貢的事。商代鑄銅遺址發現過孔雀石，孔雀石也曾為古代建築中彩畫中的重要成分（畫家管它叫做石綠），這說明中國有銅礦的地方大概也有少量的易采孔雀石。Treasury 3 本壺的論述中有更多有關這個問題的討論，可參閱。

孔雀石在中國不那麼少見，孔雀石鼻煙壺卻寥若晨星，為何？可能是因為這個材料有點軟、易碎，也可能是因為所作的孔雀石鼻煙壺本來不多。Bragg 珍藏1880年的目錄不列之，趙之謙1864～1868年間撰的《勇盧閑詰》亦不提及。早期的例子特別少見，比早期的綠松石煙壺還難得遇見。Stevens 1976包括十件早期的綠松石煙壺的插圖，但只有兩件孔雀石煙壺（編號629、669）。其他稀罕的例子還有Friedman 1990, 編號59；Lawrence 1996, 編號34；蘇富比，倫敦，1989年4月24日，拍賣品號432；Chinese Snuff Bottles 1， 頁19， 中左。

本壺的斑紋幾乎沒有可相比的，只有北京故宮珍藏的一件﹕故宮博物院1995，編號148具宮廷式鼻煙壺典型的形式，也帶無法無天的珊瑚描金御製蓋。御製煙壺的形式模樣可參見Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 編號67、69；兩件都有乾隆年款，測影如本壺而稍微豐滿點。

本壺不但形式壯麗、斑紋迷人，而且它保存著原來的形勢，不像有的上舉孔雀石煙壺，或頸部的缺口，或他處的損耗，都有所修理。