清十八 / 十九世紀 料仿雄黃磨花八方鼻煙壺

White Wings 收藏
Robert Kleiner，倫敦，1998年

Hugh Moss，〈The Kleiner Family Collection〉，《國際中國鼻煙壺協會學術期刊》，1977年6月，頁10，編號21
Robert Kleiner，《Images of Asia: Chinese Snuff Bottles》，香港及紐約，1994年，圖版6
Robert Kleiner，《Chinese Snuff Bottles: The White Wings Collection》，香港，1997年，編號36
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807

There are some tiny chips to lip and some extremities of the faceting, in addition to some scratching of the surface from use, but otherwise the overall condition is very good.
"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."

Two glorious faceted palace glass bottles in realgar glass stand head and shoulders above the rest. Of a predominantly orange colour, they can be dated to the first half of the eighteenth century and feature a wide mouth. They also share an infinitely more exciting quality, for both are capable of adrenalizing the emotions (at least of a realgar-glass enthusiast) to a degree that defies explanation on the grounds of mere physical attributes. The other bottle, now in the Crane Collection, is a little taller than this one; it has a convex oval panel instead of a faceted panel on each main side, but the material is remarkably similar.

The glorious swirling orange material seems to have been an early favourite, even though it is relatively rare.

This exquisite bottle, of the relatively small size common to many of these earlier faceted examples, features a wide mouth and is very crisply carved with faceting well controlled formally. It is suggested that Sale 2, lot 23, must have been blown into a faceted mould because the thin surface colour existed evenly on all the facets. Quite the reverse is true here; there is no indication of faceting visible from the inside, so it was probably blown into a non-faceted mould to leave thick walls, with faceting left entirely to the lapidary. This seems borne out by the fact that the brighter red colouring, usual at the surface of realgar glass, is found only at those points where the least cutting away of material would take place.