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Title: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Haa on March 20, 2015, 04:12:18 pm I though that I share this nice and very small (2 inches in height) bottle with the group. It is one of my favorite bottles and I believe it to be a genuine imperial palace workshop production of the 18th century. It has a four character Qianlong mark inscribed in the base. I have seen a few similar bottles but none of the exact shape like this one. They all have similar "C" shaped handles and feature an "Indian Lotus" design.
Happy to receive any commentary or thoughts. Henric Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: George on March 20, 2015, 07:01:44 pm Beautiful bottle !
The pastel green within the lingzhi heads, brilliant turquoise ground, the blending of white into red to achieve the appearance of pink are all good signs to be 18th century. As well the pitting and small bottle size are also good indicators.. Also the inscribed Qianlong nian zhi in regular script is the same as seen in other examples. Although I can not find any attributed to the palace workshops with the same handles, my vote is 18th century.. Beautiful and thank you for sharing it ! Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Haa on March 21, 2015, 12:22:11 pm Many thanks for your commentary. These bottles are hard to come by and Asian Antiques had a beautiful one (vase shaped with mark) that ended up with the Bloch's for a short period - it originally came from Sotheby's Billinghurst - when bottles were still cheap. Ironically I stumbled across this one - so I am very lucky to have found it. It was glued to a stand and the mark was a lucky discovery once the stand was removed. But to tell all novices - it takes a lot of mistakes to draw a decent find.
Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on March 21, 2015, 01:39:56 pm Dear George,
I have a Qianlong period Palace workshops white nephrite snuff bottle with the identical handles. It is a bit smaller, about 42 mm, while this is 50.8 mm (2 inches), but quite similar. Mine had a Qianlong nianzhi mark which was ground off (part of 'Qian' is still barely visible). The stopper is what people are calling an Imperial 'nipple' stopper. I can't decide if this cloissonne is the same period. But it does look very nice. Best, Joey Beautiful bottle ! The pastel green within the lingzhi heads, brilliant turquoise ground, the blending of white into red to achieve the appearance of pink are all good signs to be 18th century. As well the pitting and small bottle size are also good indicators.. Also the inscribed Qianlong nian zhi in regular script is the same as seen in other examples. Although I can not find any attributed to the palace workshops with the same handles, my vote is 18th century.. Beautiful and thank you for sharing it ! Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Haa on March 28, 2015, 03:09:04 pm Joey - can you share some photos of the jade bottle? Sounds like it is a wonderful piece!
Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司 on March 29, 2015, 05:37:57 am Dear Henric,
I can after I return to Ireland, where I keep my Jade snuff bottles, get it photographed and send the photos to George or Steven to post for me. Good news - I will be in Ireland in 3 1/2 weeks. Best, Joey Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Tom B. on March 30, 2015, 09:51:37 am So you are the one!
Congratulations Henric! I missed out on bidding for that one on eBay in August of 2013, but I was so sad that I saved the original images. I have them as "Imperial Qianlong" in my archives even though the eBay seller couldn't show the base at that time. It was apparently glued to a stand. In my archives I already had a similar 05.7 cm High Cloisonne Snuff Bottle described as Imperial Qianlong M&P ex J&J collection sold for $12,000 in March 2005 by Christies NY. You are one lucky guy, Tom B. Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Tom B. on March 30, 2015, 09:52:36 am The neck
Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Tom B. on March 30, 2015, 09:53:35 am the mouth rim
Title: Re: Nice Early Cloisonne Snuff bottle Post by: Haa on March 30, 2015, 01:14:17 pm Tom,
You are quite correct - it is that very same bottle and it was a lucky buy. It was glued to the stand and the mark was only revealed when the glue was removed. Thank you for posting the additional pictures from your archive. The bottle is currently displayed in my acrylic display case which is a bother to open and close. The other day I had to open it and switch up the display, so I thought I take a few pictures. I am glad that this group has such astute observers. H |