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

Dear all - I have just joined this forum and am a newbie in this field, though i have bought a few pieces in the last 2 years during my visits to China.

I was recently gifted a banded agate bottle and was told that this was done either during the late Qing period (early 1900s) or early Republic period. It seems pretty well hollowed to my untrained eyes, and has interesting inside painting that made used of the agate band. The cover has an attached metal scoop. Please see the attached photos (hope my attachments can show up here - pls let me know if you dont see them).

I would appreciate appreciate your views on the likely period this was done and if this would be considered unique / interesting piece from seasoned collectors' perspective.


thanks much, KK

Dear KK,
 
   Welcome, but first thing: cut your pics way down! to 600K MAX. When I tapped on it, I had to search a lot on the cloth.
And it costs our Forum a lot more, if the pics are that large.
When that's done, let us know again, and I'll look. By the way, the pic needs to NOT be on its side.
Best,
Joey

I resized a couple of the pics for you KK...

As Joey said though, you do need to resize them down to a reasonable image.

Would be good to get another pic showing the script at the bottom...

Beautiful bottle too !

thank you Joy & George. Apologies for not putting in more appropriately sized photos.

Pls see if the following may work better - have save them in lower reso files.

Appreciate your comments. thanks again!
KK

apologies again, not sure why the photos appeared to be on sideways, even though i had taken the photos from vertical view. hope the photos can still be seen.

thanks again, KK

KK,

that has been happening to me, too.  I take mine with my cell phone, and only if I edit them slightly, will they not appear sideways for me, anyways...

Beautiful bottle!  I love how the artist used the banding as a landscape.

Cheers,


Rheuben.

Nice bottle KK!

The bottle is painted in 2015, but without a artist signature. the theme is painted by a master Fu guoshun a lot, but from I can tell, its a student bottle. Even though, its still a very attractive bottle.

Best,

Steven

 

Dear KK,
 
    It's 'Joey', not 'Joy'...  ::) ;D
I really like the bottle, now that it is right side up, and I can enlarge it without going on a hunting trip to find it.  ::) ;)    I like the use of the markings to enhance the inside painting.

Best,
Joey

Hi Joey - my apologies on the misspelling of your name.

Dear Steven - thank you for your input. Appreciate if you can share more insights on how you determine the bottle was done in 2015.

thanks again, KK

Hi KK,

What a wonderful bottle!  I do not collect inside painted ones, but really love the minimal way the artist has used the natural marking in the stone to create a landscape scene.

Tom   

Dear KK,

     It's simple how Steven knows it was painted in 2015 - it is inscribed with the two character cyclical mark
'yi wei', which occurs every 60 years, and the bottle is definitely not from 1895 or 1955. There are a series of 2 character lines of calligraphy at the bottom, and the 'yi wei' mark is located in the 3rd row left of the red seal on the right-hand side.
Best,
Joey

Thanks for explanation Joey ;)

Got it. thanks Joey, Steven.

Somehow... I feel that the band (Jade belt) on this bottle is heavily enhanced or painted... 

Never see any banded strip that is so white and opaque before...

Pin

Pin, do you mean it's too vivid and clearly distinguished that it doesn't look as natural as it should? If yes I kinda feel the same...

Best,
Samson

It looks completely natural to me.
I see it as an opaque seam of banded agate sandwiched between two areas of translucent chalcedony.

Tom

Dear KK,
 
    Not a problem.  ;D
Joey

Guys,

    I agree it is distinctive, but agree with Tom that it looks totally natural, NOT enhanced.
It is simply a very fine example of banded agate.
Best,
Joey

KK,

As a piece of banded agate, it is attractive. The artist is [ 一石 ]，probably some
pen name , and it was painted during winter as suggested by the Chinese character [ 冬 ].

The title of the painting is [ 天山行旅 ] meaning ' journeying on Mt. Tian Shan ' which is in
North Eastern China. The artist used the thick white band to depict snowy scene.

My comment is that the proportion in the layout of the painting is far from desirable.
The bottle is best left without any painting, IMO.

Inn Bok

Hi Inn Bok,

I think Tian Shan is a mountain range in Xinjiang which is in North Western China?

The one in North Eastern China is Chang Baishan I think... :)

Best,
Samson

Dear Inn Bok,

      I must say that I don't agree with you, as to the use of the banded agate as a base for an inside painted bottle.
      Truthfully, I find the composition claustrophobic (which is why I wouldn't buy it if it was on offer), but still am intrigued by the use of the natural material, which I think was well used.

      Best,
Joey

KK,
Unusual inside painted bottle, I wish I had found it.

Jas.

Samson,

Ha, ha, you are right ! My mind was on Jilin province of NE China and
the Chang Bai San there. My apology for moving the mountain of Tai
San from W. China to the NE !

Joey,

I was not generalising when I made the comment. I was making specific
reference to the bottle shown by KK. When I zoomed the picture, I just felt
that the proportion was not what I felt as right.
I have seen beautiful bottles in the collection of my colleagues of the
Nanyang group where Hebei's Ji School artist cleverly and tastefully blend
inside painting with well hollowed natural agates, crystals, etc...

Inn Bok

Dear Inn Bok,

     I understood, but still think the work is well done, if a bit too claustrophobic for my personal taste.
     I must admit that i did not understand what you meant by "the proportion"; I thought that the artist's idea was to accentuate the amount of snow and he succeeded in that.
Best,
Joey

I thought the same Pin with this bottle.. As with a few others that have been shared on forum, including others with white cameos. Most do not seem natural to me. An article from within Snuff Bottle Review, vol 2, no 1, 1976, among the ones on the way to Pat, is an article, Chinese Snuff Bottles and the Great Exhibition of 1851.

A snippet from the article... 

"Agate snuff bottles were more frequently made by the lapidaries of Oberstein, Prussia than by Chinese workers. Oberstein snuff bottles were displayed and sold at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The zonal structure of agate and the color can be altered and accentuated by staining and by heat processes. These processes were used by the Oberstein lapidaries and similar techniques were also known to, and were used by the Romans. They used the process to accentuate the color contrasts when carving cameos. Similar methods of staining and treating agates may also have been known to the Chinese lapidaries. On bottle in the authors collection has an obviously stained yellow orange band running across the middle of the bottle. I therefore decided to try and find out more about the types of snuff bottles that were said to have been exhibited and sold at the exhibition".