English
中文
Bottle ID: 00650
BLACK W/TURQUOISE OVERLAY, BOATMAN & WATERSCENE
Date: 1805-1835
Height: 58 mm
Glass, of flattened rounded form, decorated with turquoise-blue overlay on an opaque black ground and carved with a boatman holding a punting pole and a palm fan chasing away a school of ducks from his fish basket, below a spray of flowers and a four character inscription, chun siang shui nuan ("Spring river, warm waters"), the reverse with a cockerel standing watch over three chicks feeding below a peony and tall willow, the sides with mask and ring handles.
Attributed to Yangzhou.
Similar Examples:
Lawrence, Clare. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 272-273, no. 130.147.
Low, Denis, S. K. More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, 2002, p. 169, no. 157.
Sotheby's, New York, September 14, 2010, lots 19 And 20, The Joe Grimberg Collection.
Provenance:
Robert Hall
Sotheby's, New York, April 1, 2005, lot 363
Avrina Pugh Collection no. 50C
Exhibited:
Annual Convention ICSBS Toronto, October 2007
Despite the highly unusual color combination on this bottle, compared to most Yangzhou School bottles attributed to Li Junting, it is reasonable to attribute this example to his school on stylistic grounds. The majority of high quality Yangzhou School bottles fit appealing within this School and it is, therefore, important to consider what we know about Li Junting.
Li Junting is one of a very small group of carvers whose name appears on these bottles. One of his known art names was Weishi. Gerard Tsang, in his 1978 lecture to the ICSBS in Hong Kong, suggested that this art name may be a shortened form of Wei yang Renshi - meaning a native of Wei yang, another name for Yangzhou. However, a bottle in the collection of George and Mary Bloch is signed "Mr. Li of Jingjiang" with the seal "Junting" and a date (corresponding cyclically to 1819). The inscription also tells us that it was for the "treasured collection" of Mr. Li himself. Jingjiang is the old name for Zhenjiang, eight miles from Yangzhou across the river. Although this would indicate a connection with Yangzhou, with Li both as the maker and in this case the collector of such items, the difference of being in the wealthy city of Yangzhou or on the other side of the river was significant to the class conscious Chinese, especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Bottles attributed to Li Junting are usually of the highest quality, reflecting the best of design and a finesse of execution unparalleled in this school. There are few objects other than snuff bottles available for study today and it is, therefore, worth examining the vase from the Firestone Collection which turned up in Christie's New York in March 1991. Despite being catalogued as attributed to Beijing, it is clear that this vase is part of the Yangzhou School group. Standing 17 cm high, the overlay color of a subtle rose pink is carved in the most delicate way producing a design typical of this school. The swallows with upturned wings fly above four seasonal plants and rising from rockwork is a large spray of bamboo, all reminiscent of the Eccentrics style of painting. An inscription on the neck reads "made by Master Li" and a cyclical date corresponding to 1817. A seal on the base reads "precious curio of Weishi". It is obvious that both the snuff bottle from the Bloch Collection and this vase were made by the same person for his own use and pleasure.
There are fine examples of bottles by this maker with seals in different combinations of Li Junting's name which provide a wealth of information by stylistically connecting bottles with simply the seal "Weishi" or just "Li" or "Junting" - originally assumed to have been the name of a pavilion.
Hence, this entire group is from the same workshop produced under the direction of, or by, Master Li. Although we know by the combination of seals and inscriptions that Weishi was the art name or hao of Li Junting, it is likely that he used various art names at different periods in his career. It is also possible that the studio has a number or craftsmen working under Li Junting, perhaps family members, who would have adopted other art names. Stylistically and in terms of quality, bottles such as this one may be compared to other examples signed ambiguously Han Qing (Chinese official) or Bingzin ("icy heart") which may be also tentatively attributed to Li Junting, although this needs further study.
The inscription translates as "Spring river, warm waters" alluding to the increased activity with the onset of Spring, as depicted through the antics of the newborn chicks and the cheeky ducks.