清嘉慶 粉彩高士圖鼻煙壺

Ransom Crook 收藏
舊金山亞洲美術博物館藏品
Butterfield and Butterfield 拍賣，1989年11月2日，編號680
Robert Kleiner，倫敦，1989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1255

Slight wear to the gilding on the lip and the foot. Otherwise 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."

The subject here appears to be a young scholar in a garden. The formalised floral scroll surrounding the panels is one of the most intriguing features of this bottle. The gold-on-underglaze-blue design surrounding the main panels is taken from the standard for the mid-Qing period, where the often-fuzzy floral design of the blue is detailed with gold enamel. Because of the size, the painter hasn’t even bothered to try for an underglaze blue design, knowing it could not be read on that scale once the cobalt had inevitably diffused into the glaze. The blue is simply a monochrome ground, and the gold detailing assumes the entire burden of the precise design. Even that has been applied in such a way that, if the viewer did not know its inspiration, they might misinterpret it as formalised clouds. The painting of the panels is equally rudimentary.

What the bottle does have going for it is that it may well be about as small as porcelain snuff bottles get. If it were any smaller than this, it would need refilling after each pinch of snuff.