A SAPPHIRE-BLUE AND TURQUOISE-GREEN DOUBLE-OVERLAY WHITE GLASS 'MA GU AND HE XIANGGU' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Trojan Collection.
Robert Hall, 1993.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 167.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles V: From the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Trojan, London, 1992, no. 6.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 5, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 1005.

Small chip to the outer lip. Minute chip to the tip of the pine tree branch above the goddess Magu. Two areas of brown discoloration, one on the sleeve of goddess Magu, the other on the shoulder of He Xianggu. Original flaw?
"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 no doubt that in style, technique, and double overlay this bottle is linked to Sale 5, lot 7 and Sale 8, lots 1022 and 1031, and thus to the much larger group it has been proposed for this school of carving. Here is the middle ground of bamboo, the mythological scene, and the customary pine tree, although this displays considerably more individuality and variation in the depth of its pine-needle clusters. These, instead of being essentially on a single plane, overlap each other at different levels of relief to a greater extent than on Sale 5, lot 7, for instance.

A very impressive perforated stone is depicted in the round on one narrow side, but the difference in the rocks generally is probably due more to their being on a large scale than to any difference in style.

The foot is less confidently carved than on the three bottles mentioned above (all of which have plantain-leaf necks), and the matching of the colour to the foot rim is quite careless. The wide mouth, a feature of this bottle, sets it apart and demonstrates, yet again, that such features cannot be considered fool-proof guides to either school or dating. While this bottle can be dated to a few decades in the mid-Qing period, its mouth is as wide as those believed to have been a feature of the first half of the eighteenth century. It may be less a throwback to earlier mouth-sizes, however, than a reflection of the mid-Qing trend for exaggeratedly wide ones, as seen on a series of plain, super-hollowed jade bottles.

This rare colour combination is extremely effective, although the under layer of green tends to give the sapphire blue the appearance of being more opaque than it is, also lending it a faint greenish tinge.