清十八世紀 寶石紅料鼻煙壺

Robert Kleiner，倫敦，1990年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷5，香港，2002年，編號789

Smoothing from wear to the edges of the inner small circular panels.
"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 raised circular panels on each main side, distinctly concave and presumably intended as snuff dishes, however small, relate this to Sale 6, lot 115, and also to Sale 4, lot 68 and Sale 8, lot 1041, while the flattened narrow sides are also found on Sale 4, lot 68.

The flat sides on this bottle are reconciled to the cylindrical neck by the use of four triangular facets. This represents a foreign approach to the formal problem, the more Chinese approach being illustrated by Sale 4, lot 68, on which the cylinder of the neck issues straight out of the curving shoulder panel. This approach is echoed at the base, where the side panels meet the foot, on the present example.  

Although the small yet capacious form suggests an early period, perhaps from the Yongzheng reign, the nature of the faceting does not necessarily imply an early, experimental work, since the earliest faceting would probably have approached European standards, with diamond-like cutting dominating the vessels. One finds faceting of this nature on the only known piece of faceted glass from the imperial glassworks bearing a Kangxi reign mark, even the form of which is somewhat foreign, since it resembles an inkwell (the water pot in crizzled colourless glass in the imperial collection, Yang Boda 1987, p. 79, fig. 1). Where hints of Chinese forms are blended with faceting, as they are here, it is more likely that one is dealing with an evolution by which faceting from Europe gradually became incorporated into Chinese forms.

A wider dating range has been opted here, but one would not be surprised if it transpired that this were from the Yongzheng period, while the faceting, ruby-red glass, and form all allow at least a tentative attribution to the imperial glassworks.