77 - A BLACK AND GREY JADE ‘IMPERIAL POEMS’ SNUFF BOTTLE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1736-1799

A BLACK AND GREY JADE ‘IMPERIAL POEMS’ SNUFF BOTTLE ATTRIBUTED TO THE PALACE WORKSHOPS, BEIJING, 1736-1799 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of well hollowed, flattened apple-shape with a flared, cylindrical neck, concave lip and flat, bulging-rectangular foot, engraved on each main side in clerical script with an Imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor, one on the subject of gui flowers, the other about chrysanthemums, each followed by a designation, the first ‘Inscribed by his Majesty on a scroll of cassia (gui flower)’ the second, ‘Inscribed by his Majesty on a scroll of chrysanthemums,’ the characters with traces of gold pigment Height: 4.9cm Provenance: Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 22nd October 2007, (a copy of the original invoice available) This is an extremely rare colour jade for one of this well-known series of flattened bottles inscribed with copies of the Qianlong Emperor’s poetry which were mostly inscribed in the latter part of his reign There are two poems here, both by Tang era poets, one on each side of the bottle, both of which were favourites of the Qianlong Emperor, for he has them included in various anthologies compiled on imperial command One is: Ti dianqian guiye (On the Cassia Leaves Before the Palace) Lu Zhuan (dates 題殿前桂葉 盧僎 unknown, flourished mid-8th century) The cassia tree grows by the Southern Sea 桂樹生南海 Its fragrant scent on the other side of distant mountains 芳香隔遠山 But this morning I see it up in the sky 今朝天上見 So reckon that it must have climbed up to the moon 疑是月中攀 Which appears in Quan Tangshi (Complete Poems of the Tang), 4:99:1072 全唐詩 Legend has it that a cassia tree grows on the moon The poem is followed by the expression (Inscribed by His Majesty on a Scroll of Cassia) 御題桂卷 The other poem is entitled Dui Ju (On the Chrysanthemum), by Jia Dao (779-843) 對菊 賈島 九日不出門 For nine days I did not leave my gate, 十日見黃菊 But on the tenth I saw the yellow chrysanthemums, 灼灼尚繁英 Though burning brightly, burgeoning even more, 美人無消息 Of my beautiful one, there’s no news at all It appears in Quan Tangsh (Complete Poems of the Tang), 17:571:6628. i 全唐詩 The obvious implication is that the Qianlong Emperor had inscribed these poems as colophons on two handscrolls in the Imperial collection, as he often did, and then had the inscriptions added to a snuff bottle as well Ω This Lot was imported from outside of the UK, under the Temporary Admission regime 5% import VAT will be charged on the ‘hammer” and 20% VAT will be charged on the ‘buyer’s premium