Footnotes

約1820-1860年 陳國治 瓷胎淡松石釉浮雕山水鼻煙壺 「陳國治作」楷書款

Provenance 來源:
Sotheby's London, 15 November 1965, lot 105
Hans Goldstein collection and thence by descent

倫敦蘇富比，1965年11月15日，拍品105
Hans Goldstein舊藏，並由家族繼承

Chen Guozhi, a native of Qimen from Anhui Province, was one of the great masters of porcelain carving. Chen was renowned for his ability to carve designs on porcelain with the intricacy and elegance of those found on paintings. He was active during the Daoguang and Xianfeng reigns and possibly even worked for the imperial Court, which is unsurprising given his fame at the time. This is also evident by the appearance of a reign mark and his name on some of his wares. The elaborate yet delicate landscape carvings he achieved, as exemplified by the present snuff bottle, established his prominence and fame for high quality artistry in carving. The use of a pale blue transparent glaze directly onto the biscuit was also typical of Chen's work on snuff bottles. Whilst general themes may be repeated, the hand carved character of his workmanship means that each snuff bottle by him stands unique.

Although Chen was an accomplished artist of the period, little was mentioned about his career in 19th century literary sources. One such account appears in Richard John Lynn's 1991 translation of Zhao Zhiqian's book on snuff and snuff bottles of the late nineteenth century. In this account, the unique quality of Chen's workmanship was described as similar to 'carved porcelain bottles with the technique of a painter... just as they might appear in an album of paintings done by the Song-era Painting Academy... although there are others who try to imitate his work, no one ever manages to match it.' Another account by Jin Wuxiang, author of Suxiang Suibi in the Guangxu period, stated that the value of Chen's work as 'every piece being valued at ten pieces of gold', and the magistrate named Jiang Juting presented him with a calligraphy couplet in praise, reading 'Earth and clay turned to gold and jade; a man in plain cloth becomes of royal rank'; See H.Moss, V.Graham, and K.B.Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection. Vol.6. Part 3. Arts of the Fire, Hong Kong, 2008, pp.759-762.

陳國治為安徽祁門人，清道光、咸豐年間景德鎮著名瓷雕藝人。他擅於以精細入微的工藝在瓷器上雕刻山水、花卉等紋飾，深淺適度，栩栩如生，富有畫意。

許之衡曾於《飲流齋說瓷》中形容陳國治為「巧匠」；金武祥在《粟香隨筆》記載陳國治的作品為「每一器值數十金」；蔣矩亭亦曾有「瓦缸勝金玉，布衣傲王侯。」之讚美。民國陶務監督郭葆昌曾說過，瓷雕「南有陳國治，北有王炳榮，雕瓷賽金玉，出手王侯輕」，可見陳國治的精湛工藝為後世所讚嘆。參考H.Moss，V.Graham和K.B.Tsang著，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection. Vol.6. Part 3. Arts of the Fire》，香港，2008年，頁759至762。

瑪麗及莊智博鼻煙壺舊藏也有一件與本壺相似的例子，後拍賣於香港邦瀚斯，《瑪麗及莊智博鼻煙壺珍藏：第一部分》，2010年5月28日，拍品81。