Bottle ID: 649

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GILDED, CARVED MOUNTAINOUS LANDSCAPE

Date: 1820-1880

Height: 75 mm

Lacquered and gilded wood with a broad ivory neck, carved in the form of an elongated pod, and in relief with pavilions in a mountainous landscape, the background highlighted with gilding.

Similar Examples:

Low, Denis S.K. More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlighted Respect, 2002, p. 295, no. 272.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, Vol. II, p. 465, no. 278.
Zhongguo binyanhu zhenshang [Gems of Chinese Snuff Bottles]. Edited by Geng Baochang and Zhao Binghua, 1992, no. 438.

Provenance:

Robert Hall
Pamela R. Lessing Friedman
Robert Hall
The Ko Family Collection

Published:

Hall, Robert. Chinese Snuff Bottles XI, The Snowy Peaks Collection, 2005, no. 126
Friedman, Pamela Lessing. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Pamela R. Friedman Collection, 1990, p. 116, no. 93

This is an unusual shape for a lacquer bottle being of one organic material carved in the form of another. It is also unusual because the gilding has been employed to illuminate the background of the carving, leaving the darker lacquer highlighted for maximum contrast, rather than highlighting the raised areas. A fitted neck such as this is more readily associated with Japanese ivory snuff bottles, raising the question of where this novel bottle was made. The similar example in 'Gems of Chinese Snuff Bottles' does not have a fitted neck in the same way as this bottle, but rather has a mounted silver metal collar over the main wood body.

 

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