A CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, DAOGUANG PERIOD, 1849, XINGYOUHENGTANG MARK, THE DECORATION LATER

together with a watercolour illustration by Peter Suart

Collection of Madame Nel.
Robert Hall, London.
Collection of Emily Byrne Curtis, 1986. 
Robert Kleiner, London. 

Emily Byrne Curtis, Chinese snuff bottles from the collection of Emily Byrne Curtis, Newark Museum, Newark, 1982, cat. no. 33.
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Sydney L. Moss Ltd, London, 1987, cat. no. 141.
Kleine Schätze aus China. Snuff bottles—Sammlung von Mary und George Bloch erstmals in Österreich, Creditanstalt, Vienna, 1993.

Michel Beurdeley and Marie-Thérèse Lambert-Brouillet, L'eunuque aux trois joyaux: collectionneurs et esthètes chinois, Paris, 1984, pp. 158-9, figs. 114 and 117.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 363.

The overall condition is very good except for a few barely perceptible nibbles to the inner lip.
"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."

Nothing about this superbly made crystal bottle would disallow an imperial provenance from the mid-Qing period. The shape is a variation on that discussed under Sale 5, lot 163 and is similar to Sale 7, lot 65. It is apparently a Qianlong palace form and, since most of the forms and styles of the late Qianlong period continued into the Daoguang, there is no reason to doubt the mark, which states explicitly that the bottle was made for the Xingyouheng tang; it was not an old bottle to which Zaiquan 載銓(1794 – 1854) simply added his mark. 

The material, form, and workmanship are all of the highest quality. Had it been allowed to remain as a plain crystal snuff bottle, it would be spectacular.

This style of decoration links the bottle with a group of old bottles decorated probably in the 1960s, apparently in Beijing. By the late 1950s the arts and crafts of modern China had been brought under control; old masters were located and set up in government workshops with students to train. Markets for their works and earlier pieces the state was willing to sell were found largely through Hong Kong. At that time, the state warehouses were awash with unsaleable plain snuff bottles, many of which would be sought after today—but in those days of plenty, collectors preferred the more obvious, decorated wares. An obvious answer was to decorate them, which is what happened.

The design is done with a series of diamond-point incisions of varying depths and with the cutting tool being used like a brush, leaving the incisions with texture and character. There is no difference between the way the tool is used and the way a brush would be used. Both are immediate and spontaneous. The Qianlong date is similarly done.

The calligraphy on the foot, however, is quite different. It is a very carefully contrived simulation of the appearance of brushwork. The shape of each character of the mark is first neatly outlined with a diamond-pointed tool and then the entire interior area is scratched very evenly until the whole character appears to have been evenly applied.

This type of mark is identical in technique to the stylistically similar Sale 3, lot 67, which has inscriptions giving the precise date of 1797 and the name of a studio in an area of the Summer Palace that was built in 1742. This technique may have been a mid-Qing variation evolving at court.

Another done by the same method, but in a different style, is lot 190 in the present sale.