清十九 / 二十世紀初 五彩「戲曲人物」圖鼻煙壺

with a convex lip and recessed flat foot surrounded by a protruding convex footrim, painted with a scene from the opera Xiao shangfen ('Visiting the Grave'); the glass stopper with an integral finial and collar

西方私人收藏，自1925年7月始
珍興金舖，洛杉磯，1999年
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd，1999年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷6，香港，2007年，編號1409

The snuff bottle is overall in very good condition. The lip and footring are in 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."

During the nineteenth century there may have been a number of reasons for using the famille-verte palette. Prominent among these in the later century may have been the demand from Europe and America. When Europe first began to import large quantities of Chinese porcelain in the seventeenth century, it was mostly blue and white or famille-verte wares. Not unnaturally, these wares came to define Chinese ceramics in the European mind, so that when attention turned to collecting snuff bottles in quantity in the nineteenth century, similar wares were sought.

It might seem that the subject of Chinese opera would hardly have been of interest to foreign snuff bottle collectors, but this may not have been the case. To the Western eye, gazing in wonder at a strange new society in the nineteenth century, it would have been the oddities that were memorable. Chinese opera with its stylised structure, men playing all the female parts, distinctly unusual music to the Western ear, and with everyone eating, chatting, moving about the audience, coming and going and generally making as much noise as the cast was memorable. Even with little or no knowledge of the language, history, and literature of the country, a foreigner could find such a spectacle entertaining. A subject like this would make an ideal selling point in Europe to a collector who had learned a little about what it meant and could talk about it to his home audience. There were other reasons for using an ancient palette, and there was local demand, of course, for opera subjects. In truth, we have no way of knowing the original target market for such bottles. All we can be reasonably certain of is that this item was in a Western collection by 1925. There is an old label glued to the foot that reads ‘S. L. July 1925, C. 200’. The ‘S. L.’ might be the initials of the owner, or it could be the seller or the place of purchase.

Being of the earlier palette, this bottle is difficult to date from the enamels as one can, to some extent, with the famille-rose palette in the nineteenth century. We can be certain, nevertheless, that it is not from the Kangxi period. The shape is also of a basic standard from the early nineteenth century to the end of the dynasty. The biscuit porcelain is more indicative, suggesting the second half of the century, possibly even the very early twentieth century.

In the opera Xiao shangfen (Visiting the Grave), a man named Liu Lujing who, in compliance with government rules, stayed in Beijing to await for an official appointment after he had successfully passed the final civil-service examination, failed to receive one until many years later. In the meantime his wife, Xiao Suzhen, having received no communication from him at all, thought he must have died. She made a grave for him and paid her respects from time to time. Eventually Liu Lujing was appointed to be a district magistrate, but decided to go home first to see his wife. When he reached his hometown he saw in the suburb a woman who looked like his wife crying in earnest in front of a grave, that day being the day of the Qingming festival, a time for people to sweep the graves of the deceased. He was perplexed but soon found out from her that it was for him that she was shedding tears. While he was touched by her loyalty, she thought he was no more than a stranger with designs on her, for his appearance had changed much during all these years. She could not recognize him until he was able to prove himself by giving her details of their life together before he made the trip to the capital.  The scene depicted here shows the couple rejoicing after they have verified their identities. The two yamen attendants who escort Liu on his way to his new office look on the happy reunion with delight.