AN IVORY 'BUDDHIST LIONS' SNUFF BOTTLE IMPERIAL MASTER, JAPAN, LATE 19TH / EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Two almost identical ivory bottles are known that are taken from the porcelain original. One is in Hughes 2002 (no. 98). The other was in the collection of the Marquess of Exeter (Chinese Snuff Bottles 5 [1969], p. 47, fig. 6; also Chinese Snuff Bottles 6 [1974], p. 5, no. O.49). When published in 1969 and 1974, the ivory version in the Exeter Collection was illustrated as the origin of the moulded-porcelain bottle, although it was the other way around. The Exeter ivory is a very precise copy of the moulded-porcelain example, right down to the shape and borders.

On the present example, the form has been widened to give more room for the nine lions, and an entirely un-Chinese additional border has been added between the bands of formalised lingzhi and the leiwen patterns around the lower neck and the base. In the porcelain original, the lingzhi pattern links directly to the leiwen band.

Another hint of Japanese style is found in the heads of the Buddhist lions. Although the beasts themselves have been copied quite accurately and have not been transformed into the Japanese equivalent, their heads have been subtly changed. The Japanese lion is usually depicted with a rather more elaborate and prominent curly mane than the standard Chinese version. The Imperial Master was unable to resist adding a few extra layers of curls here, although he did refrain from adding the star-like markings on the body that are typical of the Japanese beast. He has also given the lions some manic grimaces and, in some cases, grins.

It is not certain how many people were involved in Japanese workshops of the late Tokugawa 德川 (until 1868) and Meiji 明治 (1868–1912) periods when the Imperial Master worked, but as a rule Japanese craftsmen of this calibre, such as netsuke artists, tended to work alone, with perhaps the help of a family member or two to do some of the less exacting work while learning the art. More commercial workshops, for cloisonné enamel for instance, were staffed by much larger groups of craftsmen. However, when it came to combined ivory and lacquer wares, despite the impression that the Ivory Master was a solitary artist, if he or someone else produced the combined ivory and lacquer wares, it is likely that he used suppliers for certain readymade elements (the basic lacquer areas, for instance, prepared for carving).

What effect the fresh demand from the West had on this pattern of production is unclear. It may be that the imperial Master was a solo artist who was encouraged over the years by increasing demand to take on assistants or train his children in the art so that they could help him or carry on after he could no longer produce wares. For the time being, one must be satisfied with linking to him a range of wares, while accepting that one may never know who he was or how many people he may have eventually had working for him.

It is likely that the stopper is the original and was simply made too small as part of the Japanese fashion for this group of bottles.