AN INSCRIBED CHALCEDONY ‘DING’ SNUFF BOTTLE OFFICIAL SCHOOL, POSSIBLY PALACE WORKSHOPS, QING DYNASTY, MID-18TH / MID-19TH CENTURY

extremely well hollowed, with a flat lip and a concave foot, carved on one side with a cameo design of an ancient bronze ritual tripod vesse, ding, together with a description, in regular script, of the subject reading Bo He ding ('Earl of He's tripod vessel') and the texts that are inscribed on the reverse of the bottle, and on the other side with the original text of eighteen characters that appear on the bronze vessel together with a transcription in regular script on the left; the glass stopper with a vinyl collar

Collection of Alice B. McReynolds.
Sotheby’s Los Angeles, 31st October 1984, lot 104.

Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 235.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-1995.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 300.

There is a faint chip to outer lip and another to inner lip. The mouthrim may be slighlyt polished on one side. There is a brown vein running through the top of the mouth. Otherwise the overall condition is very good. The actual colour of the stone is more brown, somewhat less yellow compared to the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

There is a small group of cameo chalcedony snuff bottles that are decorated with archaic bronzes and inscriptions. The design represents a multi-layered endorsement of superior ideals as viewed by the literati. The study of ancient bronzes became a lofty pastime as early as the Song dynasty. This was partly because of their reflection of a past Golden Age, but also because of the inscriptions in arcane scripts, the study of which not only opened the door to the past, but represented a high level of education in the present. The connoisseurship of the past, implied by such an interest, was for these reasons a common pastime of the influential minority. Rubbings of ancient bronzes and their inscriptions formed part of many a scholar’s collection.

A line drawing of the original vessel pictured here and a copy of its inscription are found in Ye Daxiong 1984, no 178. The tripod is dated to the ninth century BCE. The inscription also appears in three catalogues in the Siku quanshu, the great library published during the Qianlong reign. The inscription follows the standard formula, naming the person who caused it to be made and expressing the wish that it will be treasured forever.

Another chalcedony bottle depicting a similar bronze vessel, complete with the same inscriptions, although differently arranged, from the Mack Collection, was sold in our New York rooms, 25th October 1997, lot 58. The the view of the bronze is identical, as is the form, suggesting that it was taken from a publication with its fixed view rather than from a bronze vessel in the hands of the carver. Sculpturally, the tripod is extraordinary as an image, but it is also extremely well balanced with the formal attributes of the bottle. Cut from a relief plane of more opaque, darker brown colouring, it is exquisitely placed on the main face of the superbly hollowed body, with the flared legs and tapering form echoing the narrowing of the form at the neck while at the same time setting up a counterpoint to the symmetry of the main profile. The side profile is also powerfully linked to the image, hinting at the same, bottom-heavy, solid, and dumpy form.The talent of the maker also rests in the use of the upper layer of more opaque, beige colouring as random patches of patination.

All ancient bronzes appeared to Qing aesthetes with a patination of incrustation from long burial, which was valued, although late Ming and Qing taste often preferred to darken and smooth both bronze and patina by polishing overall. The random paler markings on the surface of the bronze depicted here would have been instantly read as malachite incrustation to an audience of Qing aesthetes. For two others of this group, illustrating the same bronze and inscriptions, see The Au Hang Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 1993, cat. no. 157, and a bottle sold in our London rooms, 28th April 1987, lot 705.