AN ENAMELLED WHITE GLASS 'FOUR SCHOLARS' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5th May 1994, lot 1327.

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, no. 1145.

One chip to inner lip. A barely perceptible chip to the outer footrim.
"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."

Like so many Yangzhou bottles, this one is essentially a genre painting applied to glass. It was obviously designed on paper. The design is wrapped around the bottle, and the artist left a vertical gap of white space where the two ends met rather than adjusting it to form a continuous composition. This was one standard option in adding a flat design to a continuous surface; another was to mask the gap by adding clouds, rocks, or some other device to disguise the joint. This is one of the few compositions that was repeated several times in this series of Yangzhou enamelled glass bottles, adjusted for different shapes of bottle, sometimes with the scene made continuous. It was obviously a popular image.

Neck borders were optional on Yangzhou enamel on glass bottles. The imperial practice for the late century was to either have them or not, depending upon the subject and the particular group of enamel designers, and this seems to have been true in Yangzhou as well. When they do have neck borders, the Yangzhou bottles echo imperial types: here and on Sale 6, lot 260, they consist of a series of coloured dots added to formalised lingzhi. The two bottles can only be from the same hand, although it is possible that they are by a small group of artists with a very uniform style. Even the baskets, although for different purposes, are painted in a very similar style on the two bottles.

What is absent here is a mark of any sort, and this is one of the few examples that appear never to have had one. Even close examination fails to reveal the faint trace of a mark; nor does the foot appear to have been polished down, since it retains a very convincing natural patina of tiny scratches from years of use.

Both this bottle and Sale 6, lot 260 are unusual among the wares from the school for their miniature size.