Crackle Glaze Bottle

[RW]

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

[George]

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 !

[RW]

  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 

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

  Best,

  Kevin

[guest574]

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.

[Joey Silver / Si Zhouyi 義周司]

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

[RW]

 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

[Wattana]

And, it came to trial and error. 

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

[George]

   Could I impose on you to post for me my Anhua bottle from "Dragon", #13

Here you go Joey..

[YT]

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

[Wattana]

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

Best,
Tom

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

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

[RW]

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

[RW]

Hello Tom and Ted

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

Best,

Kevin

[YT]

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

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

[richy88]

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

[RW]

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

[RW]

Hi Richard,

Many thanks for looking and the example

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

Best

Kevin

[Wattana]

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

[richy88]

Hi all

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

Regards.


Richard

[Fiveroosters aka clayandbrush]

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