96 - A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER AND BRONZE ‘EIGHTEEN LUOHAN’ SNUFF BOTTLE 1780-1880

A CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER AND BRONZE ‘EIGHTEEN LUOHAN’ SNUFF BOTTLE 1780-1880 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of compressed ovoid form with a cylindrical neck, flat lip and flat, oval foot, carved in deep relief with a continuous design of the Eighteen Luohan, each with his familiar animal or attribute, in a rocky landscape with a pine tree and other foliage, set against a background of two different diapers to represent the ground and the sky, and contained between borders of eccentric, single-unit leiwen (‘thunder pattern’), the neck with a further band of continuous leiwen, the neck with the underlying bronze bottle showing through Height: 6.5cm Provenance: Arts of China, Hong Kong The Lawrence and Florence Bier Collection, no. 177 Sotheby’s New York, Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles, 23rd March 2004, lot 252 Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 19th March 2007, (a copy of the original invoice available) During the eighteenth century a series of cinnabar lacquer bottles was produced, mostly probably for the Court, of this range of shapes, but with flared necks and usually, matching lacquer stoppers. This is part of an unusual group of very well-carved equivalents from the mid- to late-Qing period, and the Eighteen Buddhist Luohan was one of the more popular subjects for the group 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