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PROPERTY FROM THE V.W.S. COLLECTIONThe custom of taking snuff at the Qing court coincided with the establishment of the Zaobanchu, the Palace Workshops, in 1680 by the Kangxi Emperor, although imperial manufactories had existed since 1664. The first snuff bottles were likely produced in these workshops. As early as 1702, Wang Shizhen wrote: "Recently, in the Capital, they make a kind of snuff which can brighten the eyes and which can be used to avoid epidemic disease….(Glass snuff) bottles come in many different shapes and a variety of colors: red, purple, yellow, white, black, green and so forth. The most admired are white like rock crystal and red like crimson mica. Ivory is used to make the spoon, which is used to convey snuff to the nose and is then replaced in the bottle. These items are all manufactured in the Imperial Household Department workshops. There are also some that are made in imitation by those in the general population, but they are never up to such standards." Records show that both Yongzheng (1723-1735) and Qianlong (1736-1795) were snuff takers and, almost certainly, collectors of snuff bottles. The archives of the Imperial Household Department for Yongzheng show that over 3,000 bottles were made in the Palace Workshops during his reign. The Qianlong Emperor became one of the greatest art collectors the world has ever known. Not only were snuff bottles the height of fashion at the imperial court, but they were also part of a prevalent gift-giving system. As the popularity of taking snuff grew in the late 18th century, commercial workshops outside the Palace sprung up in cities like Suzhou and Guangzhou, often where artisans had returned after traveling to the Palace to work. By the nineteenth century, the middle and upper classes took snuff and collected snuff bottles, especially in cities like Yangzhou, where the merchants were very wealthy. Lot X is an elegant quatrefoil-form porcelain bottle decorated using famille-rose and iron-red enamels with gilding, with women in a garden setting, the base with a Jiaqing nianzhi mark, and of the period. A great variety of innovative shapes were produced at the imperial kilns in Jingde Zhen towards the end of Qianlong’s reign, continuing into the Jiaqing period. Often these bottles would have a landscape, floral, or garden scene on one or both sides, sometimes with a scene on one side and a calligraphic inscription or imperial poem on the reverse. Most of the poems on both Qianlong and Jiaqing mark and period bottles were penned by the Qianlong Emperor, who was said to have composed over 36,000 poems in his lifetime. After his death in 1799, the practice of putting his poems on porcelain bottles was discontinued. This suggests that this bottle, where a garden scene is shown on both sides, was produced in the imperial kilns after 1799. The group of Guyue Xuan marked bottles has long intrigued collectors of snuff bottles. Virtually nothing was known about the Guyue Xuan for many years. This was because, apart from the marks on predominantly enamel on glass bottles such as lot X, the Guyue Xuan mark appears seldom elsewhere and, until recently, was not thought to be mentioned in any archival documents. Under the order of the Qianlong Emperor, the construction of the Changchun Yuan complex in the Yuanming Yuan began in the tenth year of Qianlong in 1745. The main hall of the Garden of Reflection was the Airan Jinyun. Within that, the Guyue Xuan was located towards the back and connected to the future bed-chamber of the Qianlong Emperor for his retirement. Although the garden in which the Guyue Xuan was located existed since 1767, the archives state that in 1810 (the 15th year of Jiaqing),the Emperor ordered its extensive renovation. After this point, the Garden of Reflection is not mentioned again in the Archives. After Qianlong's death in 1799, it is unlikely that any artworks would have been produced for the Guyue Xuan since it would have remained unoccupied by subsequent emperors. This allows for dating these pieces, including this superb snuff bottle, from 1767 to 1799. The Chinese extensively developed the use of cinnabar lacquer over the centuries. When the Kangxi Emperor founded the imperial workshops in 1680, one was a lacquer workshop. This continued throughout the 18th century as the Qianlong Emperor was extremely fond of carved lacquer. After his death in 1799, imperial production of carved lacquer experienced a steep decline in the quality and quantity of pieces. Like lot X, most eighteenth-century snuff bottles seem to follow a similar style and subject matter with figures in a mountainous landscape carved in high relief on a shield-shaped wood body. Opaque yellow was a color reserved for the use of the Emperor and his extended family (including the royal princesses, princes, and their concubines). Although snuff bottles were not included as part of the official imperial regulations, as ceramics and textiles were, the same restrictions would likely apply to opaque yellow glass bottles. During the Qianlong era, it appears there were at least four different colors of yellow specifically designated for imperial use. These are as follows: Ming huang (bright yellow), Jin huang (golden yellow), Xiang se (incense yellow), and Xing huang (apricot yellow). Ming huang was reserved for use by three people: the Emperor, the Empress, and the Empress Dowager. Jin huang was reserved for the use of the Emperor's sons (the imperial princes) and the 2nd and 3rd-degree imperial consorts. Xiang se was used by the imperial consorts of the two lowest degrees, the Emperor's daughters and his son's wives. The last color, Xing huang, was the most unusual of the four colors and was reserved for only two people - the Crown Prince and his Consort. Lot X, with its Qianlong mark and a classical poem by the Tang dynasty poet Du Fu, is a likely contender for the first group, being of bright yellow color. By the early nineteenth century, the middle and upper classes throughout China took snuff and collected snuff bottles, especially in wealthy cities like Yangzhou and Suzhou. Lot X is a wonderfully carved Suzhou School agate bottle depicting the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai holding a wine cup and sitting beside a massive rock, his attendant carrying a large wine jar. In this case, the use of the darker inclusions is masterful, with fluid carving of the lighter areas giving an overall impression of movement and vitality of the two figures. Several highly refined bottles from this group are published, and they appear to be made in various colors of agate, though most of them seem to be, like lot X, in tones of pale gray. A similar example in the Crane Collection provides specific references in its inscriptions. The inscribed poem was composed for the bottle and suggests that it was made for the Qianlong Emperor, with reference to it being carried on his person and 'flowing with the dragons' on his robes when he moved. The designation of Yushang - for the appreciation of the Emperor - is not only a very high-ranking imperial mark but also a very personal mark, and given in combination with a known private hall, suggests that the Crane Collection bottle was made for the Emperor's use. With a formally correct reign mark and a given date of 1783, within the Qianlong period, it can be concluded that the whole group is genuine and of the late Qianlong period, made from around 1760 until the end of the reign. During the Qianlong period, a trend developed for undecorated bottles in nephrite and hardstones. Like lot X, most of them are very well-hollowed through an unusually narrow mouth, showing the skill and dexterity of the maker. A staple of this production was white nephrite of the highest quality and purity, which suggests a date after 1760 when the Qing dynasty extended its boundaries to include the jade-producing regions of Khotan in Xinjiang Province. Records show that there were eight imperial workshops based around the country; one, of course, within the Palace confines; another in Suzhou under the direction of the Imperial Silk Manufactory and centered in the most flourishing center in China for jade carving. This is documented in detail through the writings and poetry of the Qianlong Emperor. A passionate collector of all works of art, he amassed a phenomenal collection of jade pieces from two sources - the imperial workshops and from imperial tributes sent to the court. The influence of the Suzhou carvers was significant; the artisans from Suzhou were sent to the Imperial workshops to manufacture jade wares, while many objects presented at the Palace originated in Suzhou. The stunning pair of nephrite bottles (lot X) with their formal Qianlong nianzhi marks are clearly products of the imperial workshops. Lot X is one of a group of bottles made in boxed sets of either ten or twenty for the imperial court. The National Palace Museum in Taipei has one complete set in its collection. Although it was previously thought that these bottles were made in sets of ten or twenty since they still exist in the Palace Museums in boxes of those numbers of bottles, it is apparent from the translations of the imperial archives that these boxes, themselves of high quality, were essentially packaging for the bottles to be sent up to the Palace. Individual bottles in private hands are scarce, but a similar example is illustrated in Moss, Graham, and Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 1, Jade, 1998, no. 70. What then led to the demise of snuff-taking as a widespread habit? By far, the most critical factor was that cigarettes began to displace more traditional forms of tobacco towards the end of the 19th century. By the turn of the 20th century, many consumers in Shanghai and other coastal trading cities had switched to factory-produced cigarettes. This left snuff bottles, for the most part, as a collectors' item – a status it had commanded from the outset and where it remains to this day both in China and the West. CLARE CHU
PAIRE DE TABATIÈRES EN JADE BLANC
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, 1760-1800
Details
PAIRE DE TABATIÈRES EN JADE BLANC
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, 1760-1800
Elles sont de forme rectangulaire aplatie et reposent sur un petit pied droit ovale. La pierre est d'une belle couleur blanche uniforme ; sans bouchon.
Hauteur: 6,3 cm. (2 1/2 in.)
CHINE, DYNASTIE QING, 1760-1800
Elles sont de forme rectangulaire aplatie et reposent sur un petit pied droit ovale. La pierre est d'une belle couleur blanche uniforme ; sans bouchon.
Hauteur: 6,3 cm. (2 1/2 in.)
Provenance
Acquired by the father of V.W.S. (1890-1977) in China in the 1930s.
The V.W.S. (1918-1974) Collection.
The V.W.S. (1918-1974) Collection.
Further details
A PAIR OF WHITE JADE SNUFF BOTTLES
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 1760-1800
CHINA, QING DYNASTY, 1760-1800
Brought to you by
Camille de Foresta
Senior Specialist, Deputy Chairman of Christie's France