清十八 / 十九世紀 欖核雕松鼠葡萄鼻煙壺

Robert Kleiner，倫敦，1992年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷7，香港，2009年，編號1515

Minute nibbles to the outer lip, smoothed with age. Two areas of wear on the carving surrounding the foot. Three cracks leading from the base, two running the length of the pod and the third finishing just above the larger squirrels ear.
"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 the second bottle made from an olive stone in the Bloch Collection, the other being Sale 6, lot 136, and it is similarly carved as a standard snuff-bottle form.

It is unusual for the amount of uncarved space left around the bottle. Uncompressed forms are usually treated as a continuous decorative surface, as can be seen in cylindrical porcelain bottles, for instance. Sometimes there is an obvious main side, and occasionally an area is left blank, but here the design is confined to only slightly less than a third of the overall surface available around the body. The carving is unusually good for an olive-stone snuff bottle, as is the forming of the bottle-shape and the finishing of the smooth surfaces. Often the detailed carving of miniature works such as this is not particularly fine when closely observed, the artist obviously assuming that to have produced something tiny was enough; top quality would have been a luxury as, indeed, it is in miniature carvings from China.

Artistically, this is perhaps a little more artistic than Sale 6, lot 136, but bearing in mind that such miniature carvings were predominantly a folk craft, both rank quite highly within their type. Significantly, both are also carefully carved into snuff-bottle forms resembling vases, rather than left in the natural shape of the stone, which was the more difficult option with an olive stone.