AN IRON-RED AND GOLD ENAMELLED PORCELAIN 'PEA POD' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., 1987.

Robert Kleiner, Boda Yang, and Clarence F. Shangraw, Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 181.
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. 6, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 1338.

Some minor nibbles towards the base on the back joint of the bean pod. Areas of the highlighted gilding missing, worn from use. Original stopper has a porcelain tube inside the neck of the bottle which is missing a fairly large chip, but not visible with the stopper in place.
"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."

Quite unlike any imperial type, this appears to be a rare model produced for a wider audience. Another feature suggesting that it is not imperial is the odd integral porcelain hollow cylinder that forms part of the stopper. What remains of it is just under two centimetres long, but the end is broken, preventing one from knowing how long it was to begin with. This was probably not the shaft of an integral porcelain spoon; there would be no point in going to all that effort to hollow out a shaft just to make it so easy to snap off.

One must remember that, although the traditional fitting for snuff bottles in China was a spoon attached to a tight cork, that was not the only system used for extracting snuff, and the bottle was not always refilled through the neck. In the Mullin Collection there is a Mongolian-style snuff bottle fitted with a traditional spoon, but with a central plug in one main side for filling the bottle (Moss and Sargent 2012, pp. 261 – 262, no. 275); there is another (pp. 260 – 262, no. 274) where the stopper has a spout with a hinged lid so that the snuff could be tipped from the bottle, presumably onto a snuff dish.

Most importantly, there are rare examples where a short cylinder was attached to the cork. When the bottle was tipped upside down, the cylinder would fill with snuff, which could then be removed and deposited on a snuff dish, providing a consistent amount for each delivery.