AN INSCRIBED AND GILT SPINACH JADE SNUFF BOTTLE FOR A...

The Bruce Family Collection (lot 1 to 100)
AN INSCRIBED AND GILT SPINACH JADE SNUFF BOTTLE FOR A TABLE
Probably Imperial, Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1750-1820
measured without the stopper 7.8cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Pearl Taffs, Sydney, 1980 (V. Bruce's snuff bottle journal, #98)

1750至1820（或）宮廷作坊 碧玉填金⌈高士展卷•御製詩⌋桌壺

款識：移種新松補舊松，團團已作翠陰濃。樹人可得能如此，體物無忺意自松。

傳承：
悉尼 Pearl Taffs，1980年（V. Bruce 鼻煙壺札記，編號98）

Among snuff bottles there is a category known as the 'table bottle', referring to a larger vessel that is not readily carried on the person (that is, not of pocket size) and was instead intended to stand on a desk or table, either for appreciation or to hold a larger quantity of snuff.

Gold-inlaid jade snuff bottles are mostly flattened in form, though their shapes vary widely. The National Palace Museum, Taipei, holds several examples: a gourd-shaped bottle (acc. no.Guyu 005832N000000000, close in size to the present bottle, both nearly 8.0cm high), a tall bottle-shaped example (acc. no.Guyu 001657N000000000), and a squat bottle-shaped example (acc. no.Guyu 005630N000000000). There was also one from the Mary and George Bloch Collection, of tall and straight-sided shape, sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 23 Nov 2014, lot 51. Among bottles of this type, an example carved from spinach-green jade, as with the present bottle, was sold at Bonhams, New York, 16 Mar 2015, lot 1097. The 'figure' carving in the front in the current lot is however extremely rare.

鼻烟壺中有⌈桌壺⌋一説，指體形稍大、不便隨身攜帶（或非袖珍型），而是放置在案頭、書桌上供鑑賞或貯存較多鼻煙的定式容器。

本壺背詩收錄於《欽定四庫全書》的《御製詩三集》卷六十七，題目為《池上居四詠·其三·松》。玉上填金鼻煙壺，大多作扁器，而形狀各異。臺北故宮博物院藏若干件，有匏形(acc.no.故玉005832N000000000，該壺與本壺尺寸亦相近，都接近8公分高度，亦為⌈桌壺⌋)、長壺形(acc.no.故玉001657N000000000)、矮壺形(acc.no.故玉005630N000000000 )，瑪麗及佐治伯樂收藏中亦有一枚長壺直壁，2014年於香港蘇富比釋出，見蘇富比2014年11月23日，拍品51號。該類型壺中，亦有與本品同樣以碧玉成壺，見邦瀚斯，紐約，2015年3月16日，拍品1097號，正面刻以人物，卻屬少數。