130 - A COPPER-RED AND UNDERGLAZE-BLUE ‘YAJI’ SNUFF BOTTLE JINGDEZHEN, 1830-1880

A COPPER-RED AND UNDERGLAZE-BLUE ‘YAJI’ SNUFF BOTTLE JINGDEZHEN, 1830-1880 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of cylindrical form, with conical shoulders funnelling towards a cylindrical neck with a rounded lip rim, with a recessed circular foot, painted with a scene of an elegant gathering (yaji) in a pavilion garden, with wutong trees, plantains and pines, where eighteen scholars are gathered and enjoy various pursuits, including playing the guqin, weiqi), looking at paintings, the shoulders with sections of leiwen on a cracked ice ground, the neck with more conventional leiwen design, the upper neck and outer foot with bands of blue lines, the foot with a formalized floral border also in underglaze-blue Height: 7.8cm Provenance: Sotheby’s, New York, 17th September 1996, lot 171, (originally sold as a pair, see lot 148 Piper Collection) Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 26th September 1996, (a copy of the original invoice available) The Yaji was a popular form of gathering among the literati in China and consisted of groups of scholars, most of whom were artists, poets, musicians or otherwise creative in some manner, brought together, preferably in a garden setting so that the delights of nature could be enjoyed directly, to enjoy each other’s company and create. Several famous yaji are recorded over the centuries and frequently led to exceptional works of art either in the form of paintings of the occasion, great poetry or prose written at the event, or joint creative works of other kinds. The Lanting Preface, for instance, the most influential piece of calligraphy in the entire history of Chinese culture, was written as a preface to poems written at a famous 4th Century yaji 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