清乾隆 / 嘉慶 青花荷包式鼻煙壺

Robert Kleiner，倫敦，1994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1185

Scratches to the surface from wear. Tiny glaze bubbles visible on both sides, all part of the original firing process.
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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 very rare shape for a snuff bottle also occurs in an early-eighteenth century enamel-on-metal bottle made at the palace workshops and still in the imperial collection (Li Jiufang 2002, no. 34, and Xia Gengqi 1995, no. 8). The enamelled version is reasonably dated to the Yongzheng period despite the absence of a reign mark, but in any case cannot be later than early Qianlong. The design there is much clearer, while the present example is a devolved version with barely recognizable scrolling peonies and other auspicious flowers in the two main panels. On the palace version, the narrow-side panels are also filled with similar scrolling flowers, whereas here they are replaced by prunus and bamboo. Given the existence of the earlier bottle and the rarity of the form, one can be fairly certain that this was inspired either by the enamelled version or by something else like it.

The nature of the blue-and-white decoration would allow for an eighteenth-century date, and the unglazed interior would be appropriate for the late-Qianlong or Jiaqing periods. Its obvious origin in an earlier eighteenth-century object that was in the imperial collection suggests that the object itself has imperial origins, probably as part of an effort on the part of the Qianlong emperor, late in his reign, to innovate by reviving and improving upon models of past excellence. Whenever it was made, it remains an intriguing rare form.