A MOTHER-OF-PEARL INLAID BLACK AND BROWN LACQUER 'SHIELD' SNUFF BOTTLE JAPAN, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Ko collection, acquired in Shanghai, 1931, no. 957.
Christie’s London, 10th June 1974, lot 185.
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., 1974.
Collection of Bob C. Stevens.
Sotheby’s Honolulu, 7th November 1981, lot 193.
Collection of Eric Young.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28th October 1993, lot 1091.

Chinese Snuff Bottles and Dishes, Mikimoto Hall, Tokyo, 1978, cat. no. 337.
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 356.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Bob C. Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York, 1976, no. 803 and front cover.
Ruzhen Zhao, Jianbian Biyanhu [Connoisseurship of snuff bottles], Taipei, 1994, no. 161.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 7, Hong Kong, 2009, no. 1710.

A small area of missing lacquer on one side. Has removed one complete character. Otherwise in 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."

In China, lac-burgauté reached new heights in the seventeenth century with the works of the most famous of all lac-burgautéartists, Jiang Qianli 江千里 of Yangzhou. Because of his widespread fame his name became synonymous with the ware itself, which was almost certainly continued by his workshop after his death, perhaps into a second, possibly even a third generation, and in other workshops through to the end of the dynasty. It was also used in Japan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The name became almost synonymous with the art form and continued to be used into the mid-twentieth century on a large number of snuff bottles made in Xinjiang 新降, south-western Shanxi province, in the 1960s. At the time, the name was seen simply as a designation of the ware; when marketed by the Beijing Arts and Crafts Corporation, the snuff bottles were sold as modern with no attempt to pretend they had anything to do with Jiang Qianli himself.

From the large and varied output bearing his name, it is possible to distinguish a small, core group of genuine pieces, mostly small serving trays or dishes for cups, but also a few other wares. One can then isolate a group of spectacularly fine wares, mostly decorated with formalised diaper designs, as being made in Japan. These include several small incense boxes and covers from the nineteenth century and a few snuff bottles made after 1854 and probably before about 1910.

This is one of the more spectacular Japanese versions bearing Jiang’s name. It is unusual because it combines a formalised diaper pattern with the panel of shou characters. It is known from Sale 7, lot 158 that the signature of Jiang Qianli was known and used in Japan, although it is there strangely written with the characters running from left to right. The matching stoppers, set on slim metal under-collars, are also typical of later Japanese production.

One is given momentary pause by the fact that this bottle was bought in Shanghai in 1931. Nevertheless, Japanese wares were available in Shanghai at that time: the set of three vase-shaped bottles signed by Katon 茄燉in the J & J Collection were bought by Ambassador Li in Shanghai in 1945 (see Sale 2, lot 63). There are a few other Japanese bottles in the Ko Collection bought from the early 1920s to the 1940s, proving that such bottles were found in China in Beijing, Tianjin, and the international city of Shanghai. All of these cities were under Japanese military occupation at one time or another, of course.

Technically, the Japanese wares were as fine as Jiang Qianli’s genuine works, and usually more complex and detailed; these qualities are obvious in the present example, which is one of the Japanese masterpieces of the art form.

The decoration of shou and fu characters, wishing the recipient long life and blessings, was standard for Chinese decorative arts, but the number appearing here is strange. The foliate shape of the panels on each main side means that several of the characters, which are ranged in straight lines within the shaped panel, are partially obscured by the frame, but if each whole character and each fragment where one can see that it was intended as a part of another character are counted, there are seventy-five on each side. In China, such characters are a wish for future longevity and come usually either singly, denoting the concept in general, or in groups of one hundred, denoting a myriad or unlimited number. A group of sixty would represent a full cycle, but seventy-five is an odd number in more ways than one.