A SOAPSTONE 'FIGURES' SNUFF BOTTLE JAPAN, LATE 19TH / EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
Collection of Margaret Prescott Wise, 1970.
Collection of Edgar and Roberta Wise, 1995.
Robert Kleiner, London, 1996.

Christopher Sin, Humphrey Hui, and Po Ming Kwong, ed., A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs: An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1996, cat. no. 221.

Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, no. 649.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 384.

Small abrasion to one plantain leaf, the foot scratched through natural wear. Otherwise, good condition.
"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."

This is one of the impressive soapstone bottles carved in Japan at some time after 1860. It is related to both the copies of imperial ivory snuff bottles and to a series of ivory bottles embellished with soapstone detail (see, for instance, Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 3rd November 1994, lot 1011)—and, of course, by extension to many other late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Japanese bottles.

One can refine one’s understanding of the dating of much of this Japanese group by reference to collections formed in the United States and presented to Museums early this century. The Drummond Collection in the American Museum of Natural History in New York has many of these Japanese bottles, including a double ivory bottle embellished with soapstone from the same workshop and probably the same hand as this. Drummond collected prior to 1928 and by 1931 had already promised his collection to the museum, where it was housed from 1933 onwards. A still earlier group has been in the Metropolitan Museum since 1921, from the Edmund C. Converse Collection, where another soapstone-embellished ivory bottle from this group is housed. These bottles were new when they were acquired by American collectors, although undoubtedly passed off both as old and as Chinese, and since Converse collected prior to 1921, there is a confirmed terminal date of production for that particular bottle. 

The soapstone here is of lovely, rich ochre yellow with pale red markings. It may be an indigenous Japanese stone, but since Fujian is a coastal province convenient to Japan it is also possible that it came from Fujian. It does not have the translucency and fascinating inner texture that makes tianhuang 田黃so sought after in China, but the colour is not too far off. The Japanese used a great deal of soapstone in their inlay works and must either have had it locally or imported it during the Meiji period in reasonable quantities and of many different colours.

The children on one main side of this bottle are playing with crickets or katydids, insects kept for their chirpy song and their fighting ability. Two types of container were standard for them, the less well-known of which is this bulbous, barrel-shaped jar with a flat lid, usually made of a refined stoneware but also found in other materials, including Jingdezhen porcelain. The children have small sticks to incite the insects to fight, and the pastime of keeping and fighting crickets permeated male society, with often enormous sums gambled on the outcome.