清乾隆 玉雕三繫梅瓶式鼻煙壺

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd，香港，1992年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷1，香港，1996年，編號85

One flake across the lip, smaller nibbles to the outer lip.
"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 taste of the Qianlong emperor, with his all-encompassing passion for jade, covered the entire gamut of available nephrite and jadeite. 

The unusually transparent surface allows a series of stark black-and-white markings in the stone to recede visibly into it, producing a fascinating texture where the markings become more and more diffused by the depth of the material. There is also a vitality and even direction to the markings, as if a galaxy is playing out its cosmic game on a tiny scale, frozen in the material. There is even one intriguing black mark near the surface surrounded by a white halo that acts as a counterpoint to the broader sweep of white inclusions, drawing it sideways as if by its gravitational force as it implodes in the death throes of a giant star. Chinese aesthetes were used to finding cosmic measure in their works of art, and the more natural the markings, the better. A tiny rock formation mounted on a stand and set on a desk was sufficient to evoke entire mountain ranges for the scholar, allowing him to escape from his studio and wander about distant crags and valleys without breaking a sweat.

The loops at the shoulders give an unambiguous front to a form that would otherwise have none. With the three-legged ritual vessels in the great Bronze Age of China, the front is always indicated by the exact division by the front leg of the symmetry of matched features such as handles or the design. This was so common a rule over several thousand years of Chinese culture that it would have been second nature for any Chinese carver planning an arrangement of three loops. By compressing the form, making it slightly oval in cross section, and placing one handle precisely in the centre of the oval, the designer gave a very clear indication of which side is to be viewed as the front. This tiny adjustment in form is virtually invisible, and there seems little point to it without the need to designate one surface as the front. To have done this so carefully seems to imply that the arrangement of the visual markings in the stone were of considerable importance as part of the work of art. Taking this as a clue, and turning the bottle in the hand, it becomes obvious that the carver has chosen the most intriguing markings for the front of the bottle, and by placing the gravitational pull of the black spot with its halo of white up to one side, he has created a formal tension that is felt even before one analyses it.

Loops of different kinds were a popular feature on court hardstone carvings. They either acted as handles, served as cord fittings, or referred to archaic vessels or, of course, all three. Another feature of palace bottles seems to have been the habit of attaching cords, sometimes through a pair of drilled mask-and-ring handles.