.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The poem can be read as:
Sheng jia fei gao pin zhi jie
You xiang jing se bu qiang yin
Dong cun jin you xiao pun zhe
Ye jie zhe lai tou shang zhan
This poem describes the character of the lily and can be translated as:
'Its reputation is not high but its appearance is very good
The fragrance is quiet, color is pure (white) and casts no shadow on the wall
The East Village lady wants to be beautiful
and knows to place flowers in her hair.'
This bottle appears to fall into a well-known group of inscribed Imperial bottles with poems on the subject of flowers written by the Qianlong Emperor. See Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Tokyo, 1993, pp. 34-35, no. 38.
For another example also inscribed with a poem about flowers to one side and lightly incised with a depiction of flowers to the other see Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Number Three, (A special edition devoted to the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gerry P. Mack), London, 1965, p. 27, figs. 15-16.
For a more rounded white jade example see Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 3 May 1995, lot 571.
Sheng jia fei gao pin zhi jie
You xiang jing se bu qiang yin
Dong cun jin you xiao pun zhe
Ye jie zhe lai tou shang zhan
This poem describes the character of the lily and can be translated as:
'Its reputation is not high but its appearance is very good
The fragrance is quiet, color is pure (white) and casts no shadow on the wall
The East Village lady wants to be beautiful
and knows to place flowers in her hair.'
This bottle appears to fall into a well-known group of inscribed Imperial bottles with poems on the subject of flowers written by the Qianlong Emperor. See Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, Tokyo, 1993, pp. 34-35, no. 38.
For another example also inscribed with a poem about flowers to one side and lightly incised with a depiction of flowers to the other see Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Number Three, (A special edition devoted to the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gerry P. Mack), London, 1965, p. 27, figs. 15-16.
For a more rounded white jade example see Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 3 May 1995, lot 571.