1750-1830

細節

**A RARE AND WELL-CARVED CORAL SNUFF BOTTLE
1750-1830
Of rounded-rectangular form, the well-hollowed bottle carved with a continuous design of ten bats in flight amidst formalized swirling clouds, jadeite stopper
2 3/8 in. (5.9 cm.) high

來源

Bob C. Stevens
Sotheby's, Honolulu, 7 November 1981, lot 150
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.

出版

Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 4, p. 36, fig. A
Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, no. 604
Chinese Snuff Bottles and Dishes, p. 84, no. 236
100 Selected Chinese Snuff Bottles from the J & J Collection, front cover and no. 2
J & J poster
Orientations, October 1987, p. 41, fig. 2
Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J & J Collection, vol. 1, no. 89
Asian Art, September 1999, p.18, fig. 25
JICSBS, Spring 2000, front cover

展覽

Mikimoto Hall, Tokyo, October 1978
Christie's, London, October 1987
Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

注意事項

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

拍品專文

The five bats on each side of this bottle are an extremely fortuitous image, as they provide rebuses for both vast good fortune and for the 'Five Blessings' of longevity, health, wealth, love of virtue and a peaceful death. The bats here are depicted in varying postures of flight, and it is significant that a few are shown upside down because in Chinese, an upside-down bat provides a homophone for 'happiness has arrived'.

The carver of this bottle has invested the little creatures with considerable individual personality. The clouds also provide a convincing three-dimensionality with some of them obscuring the bats and some set behind them. The clouds also connect the flying creatures in an overall dynamic pattern.

A number of similar rectangular bottles decorated on the surface in low relief are known in coral with various designs, including the present subject of bats and clouds, such as the example illustrated by H. Moss, V. Graham, K. B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 3, Stones other than Jade and Quartz, no. 431. Other coral bottles of this design include one illustrated by B. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Chinese Snuff Bottles, p. 165, no. 604, and one from the collection of Charles V. Swain illustrated on the front cover of JICSBS, Summer 1990. A coral bottle of this shape, but carved with just two bats amidst incised cloud scroll, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, p. 181, no. 285.