THREE FAMILLE-ROSE STANDING FIGURE-FORM SNUFF BOTTLES QING DYNASTY, LATE 18TH / EARLY 19TH CENTURY

each moulded and painted, one in the form of an official holding a snuff bottle in his outstretched right hand, which sports a jadeite thumb ring, the inner section of his hat and its crowning button forming the stopper; the other two in the form of his wives or concubines, one Chinese (with bound feet and Chinese costume) holding a folded fan in her left hand and a pair of flowers in her right; the other Manchu (with unbound feet and platform shoes, wearing Manchu costume) holding a rigid oval fan decorated with painted orchids in her right hand and a pair of flowers in her left; a chignon of hair in each case forming the stopper

Sotheby's London, 7th June 1990, lots 277-279.

Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 157.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-1995.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, The British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 207.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Clare Lawrence, 'London Auction Review', Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Autumn 1990, p. 24, fig. 7
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 9. (male figure only)
Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Winter 1998, front cover.
Carol Michaelson, 'The Use of Archaism as a Decorative Motif in Snuff Bottles', Journal of the International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society, Winter 2000, p. 15, fig. 47.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 6, Hong Kong, 2007, nos. 1226, 1227 and 1228.

All bottles are in very good overall condition. The female figure in the blue robe has a later replaced stopper and a restored right hand. The enamels and gilding are all in very good condition. The female in the turquoise robe is in very good overall condition with the gilding and the enamels all intact. The man is also in very good condition. All are missing their spoons. The actual colour of the bottle is slightly deeper and more saturated than the catalogue image.
"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 extraordinary set of three figures is matched by only a few other examples. A comparable man and Chinese woman are in the Chester Beatty Collection, illustrated in Jan Chapman, 'The Chester Beatty Collection of Snuff Bottles', Arts of Asia, March/April 1988, front cover and p.60, fig. 15.

In the Blair Collection is another example of the Chinese lady, see Michael C. Hughes, The Blair Bequest: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University Art Museum, Baltimore, 2002, cat. no. 296. We can thus be certain that the Beatty, Blair, and Bloch examples represent at least three sets; if three sets can be attested, there might well have been more originally.

This unique surviving set of all three figures, complete with their original stoppers and in perfect condition, must represent the pinnacle of desirability in the field of moulded figural snuff bottles of the mid-Qing period. They are small, superbly modelled, and unusually well enamelled, with a good deal of over-painting to give the fabrics a textural richness.

The resemblance between the shape of certain snuff-bottle stoppers and the type of hat worn by emperor and officials alike at court in the Qing dynasty is fully exploited in the figure of the man. If we remove the inner portion of his hat, made up in real life of a series of red cords hanging down like thatch from the point where the hat button is fixed, we have a typical snuff-bottle stopper shape, complete with a gilt finial.