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Lot Essay
The present lot belongs to a group of early lacquer bottles that appears to be largely imperial and from the Qianlong period. The predominant colour used on this group was cinnabar red, but occasionally green or black were used as contrasts.
The subjects of figures in a landscape where individuals are in particular groupings with specific attributes are usually drawn from popular stories from drama, opera or novels, or from myths and legends. Figure subjects are the most popular on this group of lacquer bottles and they follow a decorative scheme for carved red lacquer first established in the Yuan dynasty. In this scheme naturalistic subjects are set against formalised diaper grounds and each plane is of a different pattern with standard designs for the earth, water and sky.
Another clue to the dating and origin of this group may be found in the well-known group of moulded porcelain bottles from the late Qianlong and ensuing Jiaqing periods. These appear to have had their origin in bottles of ivory and perhaps lacquer sent from the Court. Many of them follow known Imperial ivory originals, but some have dragon and fenghuang designs or feature Buddhist lions as their decoration and are enamelled in monochrome cinnabar-red colour which can only be in imitation of lacquer.
The shape of this bottle, with its flared neck and compressed tapering bulbous form, is the classic shape for this group of lacquer bottles. Two other comparable bottles from the J & J Collection are illustrated in The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, nos. 310 and 312.
See also three cinnabar lacquer bottles carved with figural scenes in the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, nos. 392-395.
The subjects of figures in a landscape where individuals are in particular groupings with specific attributes are usually drawn from popular stories from drama, opera or novels, or from myths and legends. Figure subjects are the most popular on this group of lacquer bottles and they follow a decorative scheme for carved red lacquer first established in the Yuan dynasty. In this scheme naturalistic subjects are set against formalised diaper grounds and each plane is of a different pattern with standard designs for the earth, water and sky.
Another clue to the dating and origin of this group may be found in the well-known group of moulded porcelain bottles from the late Qianlong and ensuing Jiaqing periods. These appear to have had their origin in bottles of ivory and perhaps lacquer sent from the Court. Many of them follow known Imperial ivory originals, but some have dragon and fenghuang designs or feature Buddhist lions as their decoration and are enamelled in monochrome cinnabar-red colour which can only be in imitation of lacquer.
The shape of this bottle, with its flared neck and compressed tapering bulbous form, is the classic shape for this group of lacquer bottles. Two other comparable bottles from the J & J Collection are illustrated in The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, nos. 310 and 312.
See also three cinnabar lacquer bottles carved with figural scenes in the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, nos. 392-395.