清光緒 粉彩「雙龍爭珠」鼻煙壺 《光緒年製》款

香港私人收藏
M & C Gallery，香港，2003年
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd，2003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1428

Slight wear to the gilding and a small chip to the outer footrim. Surface wear from use, not significant.
"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."

Regardless of the state of the imperial kilns in the Guangxu period, imperial wares were being produced in relatively large quantities again after the depredations of the Taiping rebellion. As a rule, large orders for a range of basic wares connected with the serving and eating of food and the decoration of various palaces, temples, and tombs accompanied the beginning of a new reign, and orders would be placed thereafter as needed. Whether snuff bottles would have been included in this initial order of basic wares is not so certain, but there was a continuing demand for them, and they were made in reasonable quantities during the reign: Guangxu imperial snuff bottles may not be as plentiful as those from the Daoguang reign, but far more have survive than from the previous two reigns of the Xianfeng and Tongzhi emperors put together. (This is hardly surprising, though, since imperial production was so savagely interrupted during those two reigns by the Taiping Rebellion.)

It is obvious from this bottle that, whether it was made at the imperial kilns or ordered from private kilns, the court was having no difficulty getting supplies of fine ceramics. Both the drawing and the enamelling are as fine here as on Daoguang enamelled wares.

There are some stylistic differences. One interesting feature is the fate of the band of formalised decoration around the shoulders. In the first half of the nineteenth century, on blue-and-white bottles the standard, formalised ruyi motif derived from the lingzhi gradually deteriorated until it was almost a meaningless pattern; by the beginning of the second half of the century it resembled a dangling cross with dots between and beneath it. On the present bottle, this corrupted, incomprehensible design seems to have metamorphosed into a border of flower heads and petals. The Guangxu enamellers, with their reclaimed pride in the production of fine porcelains, have made the old symbolism readable in a new form—whether the new form was a conscious innovation or the result of misunderstanding the original concept.

An indication that this may come from early in the reign is found in the writing of the reign mark. Although the calligrapher has tried his best to write the era name neatly, it is not fluently achieved, suggesting, perhaps, that he has not had much practise. In contrast, the characters nian zhi, which the mark writer would have been writing throughout his career regardless of the name of the reigning emperor, are far more fluently inscribed.