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Lot Essay
Emily Byrne Curtis has suggested the design on this bottle is based on the Vatican design of the Keys of St. Peter. However, it has been argued by Moss, Graham and Tsang, in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, no. 96, that this design has nothing to do with the Keys of St. Peter, but is a Chinese floral motif that coincidentally looked like crossed keys and, as a Chinese image, pre-dated St. Peter.
This bottle, carved from the finest quality white jade, represents a series of bottles carved with this particular floral motif, some of which are glass examples produced in the Imperial glassworks, suggesting a possible Imperial source for the group. However, whether the glass versions prove that the examples in jade were carved at the Palace workshops is not certain, since the Court could have ordered the same design carved at some other facility, such as Suzhou. It is difficult to distinguish carving executed at Suzhou from that at the Palace workshops since Suzhou carvers were apparently co-opted to work at the Court from time to time. In fact, it has been documented that in 1710, the Textile Commissioner in Suzhou, who was charged with supervising Imperial silk production, also sent snuff bottles to the emperor.
The Palace workshops, however, still remains a more likely source for this bottle. The repetition of the design as a series is typical of Imperial snuff bottles, and the glass version demonstrates Imperial use of the design during the Qianlong period.
This bottle, carved from the finest quality white jade, represents a series of bottles carved with this particular floral motif, some of which are glass examples produced in the Imperial glassworks, suggesting a possible Imperial source for the group. However, whether the glass versions prove that the examples in jade were carved at the Palace workshops is not certain, since the Court could have ordered the same design carved at some other facility, such as Suzhou. It is difficult to distinguish carving executed at Suzhou from that at the Palace workshops since Suzhou carvers were apparently co-opted to work at the Court from time to time. In fact, it has been documented that in 1710, the Textile Commissioner in Suzhou, who was charged with supervising Imperial silk production, also sent snuff bottles to the emperor.
The Palace workshops, however, still remains a more likely source for this bottle. The repetition of the design as a series is typical of Imperial snuff bottles, and the glass version demonstrates Imperial use of the design during the Qianlong period.