GAO JINYUAN, YIXING, 1820-1850

细节

**A VERY RARE STONEWARE SHELL-FORM SNUFF BOTTLE
GAO JINYUAN, YIXING, 1820-1850
Realistically formed as a shell, with three seals reading Gao Jinyuan, Zizao (Self-made), and Fu (Happiness), enamel-on-porcelain stopper with integral collar, painted in imitation of coral on gilt bronze
2 3/16 in. (5.55 cm.) high

来源

Yee Woo Co. (Hong Kong, 1978)

出版

Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, Vol. I, no. 258

展览

Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum für 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

注意事项

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.

拍品专文

For a discussion on the Yixing kilns, see lot 38.
Gao Jinyuan is not recorded in any of the sources that list large numbers of Yixing artists from the late-Ming to the modern period. However, it can be assumed that other pieces must exist, based on the present accomplished and imaginative bottle. A plain seed pod-form bottle illustrated in Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, no. 118, is impressed with three seals, one giving the name of the workshop, Fu (Happiness Company). The use of the same character, fu, suggests that on the present example it also identifies the company. The placement of the seals on the two bottles is also similar, and the two bottles are likely from the same workshop. One of the seals on the seed pod is the cyclical date corresponding to either 1831 or 1891, with the former being the more likely bearing in mind the number of other recorded Yixing bottles datable to the Daoguang period.
This shell form may represent that of a snail, in which case it symbolizes fertility and the wish for many descendents.