A CARVED PALE-YELLOW PORCELAIN 'HUGONG' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

Robert Hall, London, 1993. 

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 237.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Carol Michaelson, ‘The Use of Archaism as a Decorative Motif in Snuff Bottles’, Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Winter 2000, p. 16, fig. 50.
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. 1402.

The outer lip has a shallow chip of approx. 0.5 cm. The right foot has three missing toes, and the left hand has a chip to the little finger. There is a glaze crackle to the back of the neck to the upper section of the gourd. The bottle also has a few firing lines, especially to the back. The actual tone is slightly colder than 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."

This and Sale 5, lot 145, of the same subject, come closest of all known carved porcelain figural snuff bottles to the carved porcelains of the nineteenth century. Both are obviously related in subject, scale, and quality to Sale 8, lot 1024, where reasons were offered for a late-nineteenth century date, the suggestion that the name (it that is what it is) on the bottom might be Jinzhuo 進拙 (Jinwei 進烓 is another possibility, but produces no breakthroughs), and recounted the story of Hu Gong. (The gourd and the staff also belong to the immortal Li Tieguai 李鐵拐, but Li is usually depicted as an emaciated beggar.)

The fact that access to the interior through the gourd is not at all convenient for a snuff taker suggests that the bottle may have been made for a collector’s market, not for use—although this would not alter the dating range, since such wares were produced from the Daoguang period onwards. 

This is the finest of the carved-porcelain figural bottles, the one that is in a class with the best works of the more famous carvers. As with their wares, a two-part mould defined a basic shape that the artist then finished with a great deal of surface carving. The mould joint is clearly visible on the unglazed interior.