AN INSCRIBED OLIVE-BROWN OVERLAY WHITE GLASS 'TRAVELLERS IN AN AUTUMN MOUNTAIN' SNUFF BOTTLE YANGZHOU, QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY

together with a watercolour illustration by Peter Suart

Collection of Edmund F. Dwyer.
Christie’s London, 12th October 1987, lot 10.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 178.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Antiques Trade Gazette, 7th November 1987, p. 6.
Mary and George Bloch, 'Favourite Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection', Arts of Asia, September-October 1990, p. 97, fig. 35.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 5, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 1029.

Tiny, insignificant nibble to the inner lip. Minute chip halfway down the fishing line.
"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 is a masterpiece well worthy to be ranked with Sale 6, lot 214, with which it shares some features, including rocky ground textured by use of groups of short, curving lines. The composition is as bold and as masterly as that example, representing the school’s artistic talent at its best, with carving that combines this with a greater degree of shading than is evident on that one. There, the strength of the simplified composition was allowed to speak for itself, without over-fussy attention to surface detail. Here, the artist has decided to lighten parts of a complex composition with more emphatic shading. The foreground figures are the principal beneficiaries of this decision, clearly distinguished from the rocky ground, partly because of the much paler ground underlying them. The boy in the boat also benefits enormously from the same technique, bringing to an essentially two-dimensional image a considerable impression of depth. The pine tree, reminiscent of that on the other example but much younger, is similarly foliated, sparsely but effectively.

This is one of the most impressive and confident foot rims on any Yangzhou bottle, and in its depth, crispness of profile, and confidence call to mind the finest of imperial foot rims from the Qianlong period.

Although the design here gives the appearance of being continuous, it is subtly divided by the trees into two scenes representing leisurely activities of the kind undertaken by scholars during the spring and autumn. In this it is similar to Sale 4, lot 142, where it was rendered rather more symbolically in the case of the spring. In both cases only the autumn scene is inscribed. more symbolically in the case of the spring. In both cases only the autumn scene is inscribed.