A FINE AND RARE GOLDEN GLASS 'MALLOW FLOWER' SNUFF BOTTLE

PROBABLY IMPERIAL, ATTRIBUTED TO THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1730-1780

Details

A FINE AND RARE GOLDEN GLASS 'MALLOW FLOWER' SNUFF BOTTLE
PROBABLY IMPERIAL, ATTRIBUTED TO THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1730-1780
The bottle is finely carved on each main side with a large mallow blossom, flanked on the sides by mask-and-ring handles. The transparent material of a vibrant golden-yellow tone.
2 3/16 in. (5.5 cm.) high, stopper

Provenance

Ambassador T. T. Li, Shanghai, 1945
The J & J Collection; sold at Christie's New York, 30 March 2005, lot 2

Literature

JICSBS, Autumn 1988, front cover
JICSBS Spring 1989, front cover
Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, New York/Tokyo, 1993, vol. II, no. 357

Exhibited

Havana, Cuba, 1945
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 3000 anos de Arte Chino, Santiago, 1968, p. 38.
Christie's New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Snuff Bottles from China. The J & J Collection, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 1996-1997
The Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle: The J & J Collection, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, The Miniature World: An exhibition of snuff bottles from the J & J Collection, Taipei, 2002
Poly Art Museum, The Art of Chinese Snuff Bottle: Selected Snuff Bottle Collection of James Li, Beijing, 2003, p. 99

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Ruben Lien

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Lot Essay

This bottle depicts the mallow which is associated with the successful scholar. Its Chinese name gui is also a homophone on the word gui for "honor". As such, the mallow flower is often depicted on a variety of bottles made from different materials. This particular version of the design is known as fengjuangui, 'mallow curling in the wind', and is characterized by the wavy petals and cross-hatched center.

A number of bottles with this design are known, including several in different colors of glass in the Marian Mayer collection, illustrated by Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles II, nos. 86-90 and 93; one illustrated by Humphrey Hui et. al., Hidden Treasures of the Dragon , p. 61, fig. 111; and another illustrated by Robert Kleiner, A Miniature Art from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, no. 95.

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