Footnotes

Treasury 5, no. 748


寶石藍、石榴紅、無色，玻璃鼻煙壺
御用玻璃廠，北京，刻乾隆年款，1736～1770


Summer Clouds

Transparent sapphire-blue, opaque, dark cinnabar-red and colourless glass with surface crizzling and air bubbles of various sizes; with a flat lip and recessed, slightly convex foot surrounded by a protruding convex footrim; the foot engraved in seal script Qianlong nian zhi (Made during the Qianlong period)
Imperial glassworks, Beijing, 1736–1770
Height: 5.24 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.90/1.66 cm
Stopper: tourmaline; vinyl collar
Condition: minutest nibble to the outer footrim, barely discernible; internal crizzling; the exterior with the usual pattern of scratches and abrasions due to use, visible only under magnification. General relative condition: excellent


Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1980)
Belfort Collection (1986)

Published:
JICSBS, December 1975, p. 12, nos. 51 and 52
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, p. 68, fig. 64
Très précieuses tabatières chinoises, p.9, no. 77
Kleiner 1987, no. 62
Orientations, October 1987, front cover and p. 43, no. 11
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 62
Oriental Art, Spring 1994, p. 35
Kleiner 1995, no. 106
Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch (illustrated folder). Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July, 1997
Treasury 5, no. 748

Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, October–December 1978
L'Arcade Chaumet, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, June–August 1982
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Hong Kong Museum of Art, March–June 1994
National Museum, Singapore, November 1994–February 1995
British Museum, London, June–October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July–November 1997

Commentary:
What must surely have been a moment of carelessness on the marvering surface has resulted in the intriguing, if unintentional, addition of one small spot of opaque red glass, high on one shoulder. A fragment of this colour must in some way have become scattered among the larger pieces of sapphire-blue glass that were to be rolled into the colourless gather. It is highly unlikely that the glassblower intended to include one single, tiny spot of a colour different from the others.

One of the most impressive and best known of a small group of colourless glass bottles with splashes of blue, it has been published so many times that it has inspired a series of copies. Most are unmarked, since while the glassblower could easily reproduce this colour combination, adding a convincing mark would almost certainly be beyond his skills. Such an addition would also require a skilled accomplice, and involve the risk of providing more clues regarding its true age.

The crizzling (discussed under Treasury 5, no. 686 and on p. 18) suggests that this might be from the earlier part of the reign. As a rule, the problems of crizzling were largely solved by the 1740s or 1750s and only a small quantity of Qianlong wares suffer from this problem. As we have seen with Treasury 5, no. 941, however, crizzling is sometimes found on glass from the last decade of the eighteenth century. These being exceptions to the general rule, it is perhaps more likely that crizzled wares bearing Qianlong marks come from the first half of the reign. Although regular-script marks were used throughout the reign, there was a tendency at its beginning towards archaism.


池邊俯視真奇絕，一瓣石榴駐夏雲

呈現微裂紋與大小氣泡的透明藍寶石藍玻璃、無色透明玻璃、不透明石榴紅玻璃；平唇、略凸斂底、突出凸形圈足，底刻"乾隆年製"篆款

御用玻璃廠，北京，1736～1770
高：5.24 厘米
口經/唇經：0.90/1.66厘米
蓋：碧璽，乙烯基座
狀態敘述：圈足緣有微乎其微的咬痕，幾乎看不見，腹內呈微裂紋，因累年觸摸，外壁呈現期待中的細小擦痕與磨損，肉眼看不見；一般相對的狀態：極善

來源：
Hugh M. Moss, Ltd (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, 1975年，頁12，編號51、52
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 頁 168, 圖64
Très précieuses tabatières chinoises, 頁9 ，編號77
Kleiner 1987, 編號62
Orientations 1987年10 月，封面、頁43，編號11
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, 編號62
Oriental Art 1994年春期，頁35
Kleiner 1995, 編號106
Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch（折疊式插圖印刷品），Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷，1997年7 月
Treasury 5, 編號748
展覽﹕
香港藝術館，1978年10 月至12月
L'Arcade Chaumet, 巴黎、布魯塞爾、阿姆斯特丹，1982年6月～8月
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦, 1987年10 月
香港藝術館，1994年3 月～6月
National Museum of Singapore, 1994年11月～1995年1月
大英博物館, 倫敦, 1995年6月～10 月
Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年7月～11月

說明：
滾料板不留心，就導致了引人玩味的肩部上的石榴紅斑塊，這一定不是故意的，但效果很悅目。本壺好幾次發表過，結果出現了不少冒充品。其大多數缺年款，玻璃的樣子比較容易模擬，但要加上底款就需要另一種技術，一刻款又會造出冒充品真實時代的蛛絲馬跡。

壺表面的微裂紋表明本壺可能是乾隆早期作的。一般來說，玻璃微裂紋問題到了1740或1750年代已經解決了。雖然十八世紀最後十年的產品也會呈現這個毛病（參照 Treasury 5， 編號941），這是例外。而且，乾隆間一直都用楷體年款，而乾隆初卻有仿古的偏向，本壺的篆款也是推定它為乾隆早期作的的旁證。