.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The present double-gourd form bottle is delicately decorated against a milky white ground with nine ripe peaches and flower blossoms borne on leafy branches. The overall design is rendered with extraordinary naturalism, utilising subtle gradations of green, pink and yellow enamels to masterfully convey the delicate leaves and lush volume of ripening fruit.
The double-gourd was a favoured form for imperial snuff bottles, revered as the mythical vessel holding the elixir of immortality. Peaches are similarly celebrated across media in Chinese art for their association with longevity. When combined, the two motifs form a potent visual blessing for enduring life and health. No other closely comparable published example appears to be recorded. For a related group of glass double-gourd bottles bearing the same Qianlong mark in blue enamel, compare one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, decorated with five bats amidst double gourd, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 11, no. 12 (fig. 1). The Palace Museum, Taipei, also preserves a related bottle with bats and double gourds, collection no.: guci017083N (fig. 2).
Compare also to a lemon-yellow ground double-gourd snuff bottle decorated with blossoming branches of crab-apple, prunus and roses, formerly in the J & J Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2014, lot 29 (fig. 3). A further closely related Qianlong-marked yellow-ground glass bottle decorated with prunus and floral spray is in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, donated from the Fuyun Xuan Collection.
The double-gourd was a favoured form for imperial snuff bottles, revered as the mythical vessel holding the elixir of immortality. Peaches are similarly celebrated across media in Chinese art for their association with longevity. When combined, the two motifs form a potent visual blessing for enduring life and health. No other closely comparable published example appears to be recorded. For a related group of glass double-gourd bottles bearing the same Qianlong mark in blue enamel, compare one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, decorated with five bats amidst double gourd, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 2003, p. 11, no. 12 (fig. 1). The Palace Museum, Taipei, also preserves a related bottle with bats and double gourds, collection no.: guci017083N (fig. 2).
Compare also to a lemon-yellow ground double-gourd snuff bottle decorated with blossoming branches of crab-apple, prunus and roses, formerly in the J & J Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2014, lot 29 (fig. 3). A further closely related Qianlong-marked yellow-ground glass bottle decorated with prunus and floral spray is in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, donated from the Fuyun Xuan Collection.