Tabatière en verre rose avec inscription. Chine, ateliers impériaux, Beijing, marque Qianlong , 1780-1799
Tabatière en verre rose avec inscription. Chine, ateliers impériaux, Beijing, marque Qianlong , 1780-1799
l'une des faces ornée de cachets moulés et gravés, l'autre gravée d'une inscription datée du printemps de l'année jiawu (1774); bouchon en jadéite. 7 cm, 2 3/4 in. Est. 15,000—20,000 EUR - Lot Sold 18,750 EUR
PROVENANCE: Collection privée française
Galerie Bertrand de Lavergne
EXHIBITED: Tabatières Chinoises, Trésors des Collections Privées Françaises, Paris, 29 novembre – 17 décembre 2000, n°56
NOTE: The circular archaic-style seal guxi tianzi (An Emperor rare since antiquity), the square one with a Qianlong yuti seal mark (inscription composed by Qianlong).
The imperial inscription dated jiawu year (1774) reading as follows :
A pristine bottle for an exceptional fragrance
Neither jade nor pearl but a stuff most wondrous
Fine and peach-pink like a powdered face
Best for delighting the lofty in heart and soul
Compare with a Tourmaline example with the same inscription and seals illustrated in Rivers and Mountains Far From the World, The Rachelle R Holden Collection, New York, pl 156.
A rock crystal bottle with the same inscription and seals, dated 1781 or slightly later is in the Humphrey Hui collection and illustrated in The Imperial Connection, Court Related Chinese Snuff Bottles, the Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, no.99.
Compare also with a red glass inscribed bottle in Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles. The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 5, Glass, p. 422, no. 869.
For the origin and meaning of guxi tianzi seal, seeChina, The Three Emperors, 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London 2005, p. 444, no. 214, where it is stated that this seal was created for the seventieth birthday of the Emperor (1780).
Sotheby's. Asian Art11 Jun 09. Paris www.sothebys.com