Bottle ID: 162

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INCISED POEM AND FLOWERS

Date: 1750-1800

Height: 59 mm

Nephrite, white, very well hollowed, of flattened shield shape, with rounded shoulders tapering to a narrow waisted neck with a widely flared mouth, delicately incised on one side with a flowering plum blossom and an Imperial poem reading:

Since it loves to defy the sense of cold
It likes to form boughs to make the water glow.
After this old recluse came up with these lines,
The only thing for him to do is end the poem here.

The reverse with orchids growing from rockwork with an Imperial poem reading:

Their fragrance from beyond this mundane world
And graceful postures spontaneously indicating lofty character,
Arm in arm, they form such a phalanx of noble men,
Could it be they disdain this stranger who comes to visit.

 

 

 

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection nos. 259, 500, 920 and 921
Crane Collection no. 91
Chang Lin-sheng. Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, 1991, p. 170, no. 175.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 94-95, no. 38.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 264-265, no. 108.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.

Each poem begins with the characters Yuzhi shiji (Poetry Collection by His Majesty) and describes the flowers depicted.

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