清十八 / 十九世紀 仿琥珀料「團壽」鼻煙壺

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744

An elongated air bubble seen vertically in the neck and a large circular bubble seen top left on one side. Some minor wear to the raised details.
"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."

This bottle was clearly made with a mould. Vertical lines running up the narrow sides, where the two halves of the mould joined, are obvious, and the rounded contours of the relief design are typical of a mould impression. The lapidary seems to have confined his attention mainly to the carving of neck and lip, as well as the slightly recessed foot, where a shallow foot rim has been left. The rest of the surface appears to be a natural fire-polish simply touched up a little in places. There are areas in the design that have clearly not been subjected to the attentions of the lapidary, where slight surface lines picked up from the flow of glass into the mould remain visible.

In dating a bottle of this kind,the problem of its rarity deprives us of direct comparisons. One similar example is recorded, apparently from the same mould, in the Arthur Gadsby Collection (JICSBS, December 1978, p. 22, fig 14). Although the brown glass is typical of that produced during the early years of the imperial glassworks, there is an absence of crizzling, which tends to rule out very early production at court. Otherwise, however, there is little to go on. There is a tendency in the case of a mould-blown bottle of this sort, with its relative lack of clarity in design, to see it as somewhat degenerate, assigning it to late snuff-bottle production when cheap mass-production might have become acceptable. But if that were the case, where are all the others that were similarly mass-produced? It is just as likely to come from early snuff-bottle production, when private glassworks were perhaps experimenting with different methods of production. Occasionally one finds an intriguing equivalent to this, in which the moulded shou design is, mysteriously, on the inside rather than the outside. A seemingly impossible task, this is in reality no more than a simple glassmaker’s trick, explained under Sale 6, lot 209.