清道光 松石綠料描金彩繪「松蔭水榭」圖磨花八方形鼻煙壺 《道光年製》款

Gerd Lester，1986年

Hugh Moss、Victor Graham 及曾嘉寶，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，卷7，香港，2009年，編號1670

There is some wear generally to the gold paint detail, more significantly on two of the small oval panels surrounding the narrow sides. There are tiny surface scratches from use.
"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 example represents the typical nineteenth-century version of a long-popular octagonal form. Crispy faceted versions of the early-eighteenth-century style continued into the second half of the Qing dynasty, but there was a tendency toward lazier production, where the narrow sides were reduced to oval or circular facets rather than being taken down further to neat rectangular ones. Another feature of the later production was a tendency toward larger sizes. The Daoguang reign mark found here, therefore, comes as no surprise.

Decorating glass with cold gold pigment, usually laid over red, as opposed to firing gold enamel, is well known from the Qianlong period. There is a small group of imperial glass bowls decorated with dragons in this style and a credible glass bottle of pebble form from the Arthur Gadsby Collection with a Qianlong reign mark (Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 2nd November 1978, lot 68). The style survived to the later part of the dynasty; apart from the present bottle, another, also from the Gadsby Collection, has a Tongzhi reign mark (see JICSBS, March 1976, p. 20, figs. 109 and 110; also in Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 2 November 1978, lot 58).

For snuff bottles, this is not an ideal method of decoration, since the cold-painted design is mildly incompatible with the shiny glass ground and is easily worn or flaked off. It is possible that many more of this type were made and then discarded or had the remnants of their decoration removed once they had become worn.