Chinese Snuff Bottle Discussion Forum 中國鼻煙壺討論論壇

Hello All,

 This is a recent purchase, and studying it closely, I find the subject matter with its old character to be a very interesting metaphor in life


H: 4.6cm

Mouth: .793 cm

Kevin..

Beautiful bottle, but what a fantastic post !  A couple of members have shared these An Hua bottles on forum before.. They are very special..

There was a topic which I can not find at the moment, where members talked in depth about the different colors for crackled glaze..

I really enjoy what you said about "interesting metaphor in life" and finding that of special interest to you while collecting..

I have often thought about what exactly I would ask someone like Dylan Shu to paint for me..  And you really summed up how I would decide on what I might like painted.

Any way... Wonderful bottle and wonderful post !

  George,
   
    Many thanks for the post, and am very glad you like it.  I hope to add more of these bottles to the collection,  and   
   meipings of various sizes and styles too  ;D

   My interest is also piqued in the artist that you mentioned-  will have to do some research on his works

  Best,

  Kevin

A wonderful example!  I hope that Joey posts a picture of his An Hua - that he showed me last weekend in Ireland.  It would add to the knowledge of the subject too.

Dear George,

   Could I impose on you to post for me my Anhua bottle from "Dragon", #13, but I would love to know how Kevin succeeded in accentuating the Anhua decoration on his bottle. On my bottle it is hard to see the design in the photograph. And Robert Hall the photographer (not the dealer, though RH does photography for RH the dealer!), is among the best in doing photography of snuff bottles.
Best,
Joey

 Dear Joey,

 My camera and the lighting that I use are both very basic pieces and not professional quality by any means.
And, it came to trial and error.  I made many adjustments to the focus of the camera and lighting, moving back and forth between the computer downloads and the camera till everything or at least partials of the design elements came together in some of the photos. These and a few others are the only photos that I have on the pattern - and I can't see the design w/out the aid of the camera-or a magnifying lens and as a matter of fact, I had no idea the florals are found all around the sides till I looked at the pictures
(After a quick scan of Anhua examples on the internet from several museums and major auction houses, spotting the patterns in the photos wasn't a problem, however I was able to do so by expanding the patterns using magnification, much like what I was able to do in posting my photos )

Best,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Your perseverance certainly paid off!  The 'hidden' design shows up really well on that first photo.

And I agree with George - the written accompaniment to your post is excellent. I never knew the significance of the colour purple outside of ancient Roman culture.

Tom

Here you go Joey..

Dear Joey,

Attached is #13.


Dear Kevin,

I like Anhua bottles and yours look to me like a miniature vase more than snuff bottle.
Also the 'Meiping' description may be off as these type tends to come with shorter neck and much slender lower portion.

Cheers,
YT

I can see the crackle glaze on your bottle Joey, but the an-hua remains.....um, well....hidden.  ;D

Best,
Tom

Dear YT, you took the words from my mouth ;D.
I don't think correct to call it "meiping form".
Kind regards
Giovanni

Dear YT

   The compressed form of this one  has a narrow neck with wide body which tapers to more narrow base - meipings are described that way but what we normally see are the taller examples with longer bases, such as the Bonhams example which I believe to be a later bottle of the same uncompressed description noted in the example given above from the Sotheby's sale.  It is as though however, the base on this one was shortened by about 1/3 the height of those two, giving it a squat form, and probably earlier 

 In deciding over vase or bottle- the mouth diameter, neck length and small height are within expectations for what we would call a bottle. Vases usually have fluted openings at the mouth, longer necks and generally taller than 4.6cm
 Here is a link to a small pair of Anhua vases. (H: 10.8cm), Yongzheng mark and period with the long necks, and bulbous body which we all know to be in the form of vases

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/653045


Best,
Kevin

Hello Tom and Ted

Many thanks to each for your posts, very glad to have

Best,

Kevin

Dear Kevin,

The Metropolitan Museum example's Anhua is still not so visible.
Attached photos, a Meiping bottle and an Anhua bottle(the dragon scales and the enamelled blue eyes are quite visible).

Cheers,
YT

Hi Kevin

I agreed with YT that the shape does not resemble a Meiping (梅瓶).

I thought the Meiping should has a wider upper body followed by a more narrow base, like the attached jade bottle.

Just my observations.

Regards.


Richard

Thank you YT,
 I visited the Met a few weeks back and saw the Anhua vases first hand on exhibit, (and no I didn't see the decorations then, either  :)   but the shape, neck and height elements are what I wanted to point to as  vases

As to the question of meiping or not, possibly baluster form then. mine is similar in form to the middle example from a group of 5 Anhua bottles sold at Bonhams, in the link below, and again much smaller than that one by the description which indicates the tallest to be 8.3cm. The description to the lot also stated that they were of either meiping or baluster form, maybe baluster would be the correct description, whether compressed or not.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20211/lot/9/

There are many interesting themes covered by the Anhua's, and all worth seeing ( with some effort :) . To this point, none of those found in my research had conveyed any  message as w/mine using color

Best,

Kevin

Hi Richard,

Many thanks for looking and the example

 I just added a post beneath yours. I hope it helps

Best

Kevin

Hi All,

Of the group of five Bonhams bottles, I would only describe the one at far left as 'meiping' shape.
I also understood that 'meiping' and 'baluster' shape were the same thing. Hence the far left bottle is also the only one I would call baluster shape.

I have no idea what you would call the other four!

Tom

Hi all

I agreed with Tom that only the far left bottle in the Bonhams website qualify as a Meiping.

Regards.


Richard

Dear all,
I don't know how is the matter in the snuff bottles field, but in porcelain field, from where I think that the names of the types are coming, meiping has two main shapes, which are shown in the first two pictures below. The first one is more common in Song/Yuan periods, the second one is more common in Ming/Qing period. The classical baluster shape is that of the mirror black vase of the last picture.
The example posted by Kevin is more baluster shape than meiping to me.
Kind regards
Giovanni

PS: I don't know why the first meiping appears horizontal, while the original picture is vertical????

Dear Giovanni
Many thanks to you and all for your contribution on the topic of shape. to be fair I will simply restate the description as of compressed form
Kind regards

Kevin

Dear Tom,

     That's why I was so impressed with Kevin's photography!
There is a reason it is called 'Anhua'!  ;D
Best,
Joey

Dear George and YT,

      Thank you both for posting for me. NOW, if you could only get it to look as clear as Kevin's...  ::)
Best,
Joey

Dear Joey,

The bottle that I posted in Reply13, White Anhua-incised snuff bottle of cylindrical from, incised and molded on the biscuit body, with a five-clawed dragon amid clouds, the eyes picked out in cobalt blue, covered in a clear glaze, unglazed foot cut with thirteen concentric rings. 9.2cm high. Early to mid 19th C.

I have attached a clearer picture. If you like it, you can bring #13 along end of the year and I will ask my colleague to photo it. You know him too, he told me that you were sitting beside him on the bus during the HK convention  ;).

Cheers,
YT

Need to clarify that these photos are taken under standard LED lightings using a Nikon and no photoshop was done.  :D

Dear YT,
 
    Thank you.
I wasn't going to 'shlepp' a porcelain SB all around the world, but it will be worth it.
Best,
Joey

Hahaha.... Treat it as an ancient medicine bottle you need. :P

Good one! ;D
Joey

Joey it is not that hard to schlep snuff bottles, I schlepped six to show you in Ireland!

Dear Ted,
 
     You are correct.
     BUT, I'm returning the Apple Green Jadeite and the Clear on Realgar Overlay Glass with the flanking archaistic dragons to Israel.

      Then I'm bringing Kim & Jim the 2 (or is it 3, Giovanni) Bakelite snuff bottles I have for them as an anniversary present to LA. And I expect to buy bottles in LA at the convention, and have already commissioned 3 Zhuanshu  (Archaic script) calligraphy in quartz bottles, and bought a Kaishu (Standard script) calligraphy in quartz, from Jill (Guo Jie) and Li Hui.

     And hopefully, will find bottles in Taipei, HK, Thailand, and Singapore, or possibly other treasures. Last time in Singapore, I found a wonderful silver and gold toddler's genital shield from Aceh's Moslem culture. They were and are murdering fanatic evil bast**ds, but they did do superb metalwork in the 19th C. At least for the aristocracy.  ::)   Whoops. Me bad. ;D

     So, I'm not thrilled about shlepping any more than I have to.
I have a superb cashmere and lambswool coat, great in Toronto or London or Paris (etc.), in winter. I won't need it till the last few days of my trip, when I'm in London, around the 10th of Dec.
Instead, I am taking 2 UNIQLO superlightweight anoraks, which weigh under 50 grams each, one XL which I can wear over my blazer; and another one in M, which I can wear over a sweater. So I carry 100 grams weight of outerwear, instead of a coat which weighs a few kg (and which doesn't roll up into a bag about 5cmX5cmX10cm!). And the UNIQLO is almost as warm as the cashmere (though MUCH less stylish).

  I will talk to Robert Hall the photographer, and show him the info on the Forum, and see if he can't reproduce the same results in London. Dublin-London-Dublin doesn't bother me.  ;)

Best,
Joey