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拍品專文
The gourd was a popular shape for small carvings and bottles because of its tactile qualities when held in the palm of the hand, and for it auspicious symbolism. Not only did the gourd carry associations with Daoism, according to T. T. Bartholomew in 'Symbolism and Rebuses on Snuff Bottles', in P. Friedman, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Pamela R. Lessing Friedman Collection, pp. 9-20, the combination of gourds and tendrils (zisun wandai) forms a rebus for 'ceaseless generations' or 'may you have numerous descendants', making it a very popular decorative motif.
A related white jade bottle carved as either an aubergine or gourd in the collection of the Princeton University Art Museum is illustrated by M. C. Hughes, The Blair Bequest, p. 38, no. 1. Another example, still in the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, p. 149, no. 224. For other jade bottles of fruit- or vegetable-form made for the Court and still in the Imperial Collection, see Chang Lin-sheng, Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, pp. 156-60, nos. 136-50. A series of probably Imperial fruit-form snuff bottles are illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, nos. 61-72, among which nos. 62 ad 63 are gourds.
The present bottle is particularly well carved and is characteristic of the finest Qing hard-stone carvings, with faultlessly finished and polished ground plane and crisp and fluid relief layer. The green jadeite stopper, carved as a gourd-vine leaf growing on a branch, brilliantly complements the bottle. Bottles of this type were intended to have contrasting stoppers, and the present stopper is a perfect match and quite possibly may have been intended specifically for this bottle.
A related white jade bottle carved as either an aubergine or gourd in the collection of the Princeton University Art Museum is illustrated by M. C. Hughes, The Blair Bequest, p. 38, no. 1. Another example, still in the Qing Court Collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, p. 149, no. 224. For other jade bottles of fruit- or vegetable-form made for the Court and still in the Imperial Collection, see Chang Lin-sheng, Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, pp. 156-60, nos. 136-50. A series of probably Imperial fruit-form snuff bottles are illustrated by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, nos. 61-72, among which nos. 62 ad 63 are gourds.
The present bottle is particularly well carved and is characteristic of the finest Qing hard-stone carvings, with faultlessly finished and polished ground plane and crisp and fluid relief layer. The green jadeite stopper, carved as a gourd-vine leaf growing on a branch, brilliantly complements the bottle. Bottles of this type were intended to have contrasting stoppers, and the present stopper is a perfect match and quite possibly may have been intended specifically for this bottle.