206 - A SILVER INLAID LACQUER SNUFF BOTTLE DATED 1891

A SILVER INLAID LACQUER SNUFF BOTTLE DATED 1891 To Be Sold Without Reserve Of rounded rectangular form with a very slightly flared cylindrical neck, flat lip and protruding, concave oval foot, the black-lacquered wood surface inlaid with a silver wire design on one main side of two ancient bronzes, a bell (zheng) and a tripod food vessel (ding), inscribed in seal script Xinmao nian zhi (‘Made in the xinmao year’), the other main side with a poetic inscription, also in seal script, followed by the seal, in seal script in a square cartouche, Yipian bingxin (‘A heart of ice’) Height: 6.5cm Provenance: A private Hong Kong Collection Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd, 25th March 2008, (a copy of the original invoice available) This is an excellent example of a small group of distinctive, late-Qing bottles with inlaid silver wire designs on lacquer. They are usually dated to the last decade of the nineteenth century and have literate, seal script inscriptions and scholarly subjects, such as the ancient bronzes here. The seal is a commonly adopted one, not specific to any individual, which indicates the heart of a sage (rather than a cruel heart as it might in English) The poem is a well-known one which has appeared on several bottles and is an encomium on snuff A bottle which is not a bottle Smoke which is not smoke The other realm within the bottle is heaven The first line refers to a snuff bottle but also to a vessel which, like the gourd in Chinese mythology, is capable of containing another realm, hence it is also not a bottle. The smoke that is not smoke is tobacco, but ground as snuff and the other realm is that of the enlightened sage, transcending reality, where all things are understood whole 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