清十九世紀 粉彩壽桃形鼻煙壺

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6，香港，2007年，編號1399

Barely perceptible chip in the pink enamel towards the base on one small side. Otherwise, good condition.
"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."

There is an assumption that the majority of porcelain bottles in the Bloch Collection were made at Jingdezhen. Ceramics were produced in many parts of China, of course, and there were other main centres of production; but most are well-documented and distinctively different in their paste and usually in their range of glazes and enamels, as well. The two raw materials required for the finest porcelain were conveniently located in different deposits near Jingdezhen, which was the reason for its establishment as China’s main porcelain metropolis since long before the Qing dynasty. According to Rose Kerr, there were some three hundred kilns operating at Jingdezhen during the Daoguang period, and they produced the vast majority of the high-fired white-paste, fine-quality porcelain we see today, one exception being the distinctively different wares made at the Dehua 德化 kilns in Fujian. Dehua is largely irrelevant to the snuff-bottle world, however, for snuff bottles from there are surprisingly rare (see Kleiner 1999, no. 160 for a unique example). A bottle like this, although not typical of the broader range of Jingdezhen wares, is still likely to have been made there.

It is strange that the peach shape does not occur far more often in porcelain snuff bottles. It was popular enough in other materials and is not a difficult form to make in a two-part mould, so given its obvious symbolism of longevity, we might expect far more to have been made than appears to be the case.