AN ENAMELLED GLASS 'WEIQI PLAYERS' SNUFF BOTTLE, YANGZHOU SCHOOL, SEAL MARK AND PERIOD OF QIANLONG

Opaque white glass with painted polychrome enamels in very thin relief. China, ca. 1770-1795

Delicately painted to depict three Weiqi players under a beautiful willow tree, with the reverse showing a scholar playing the flute, accompanied by his attended on a Guzheng, set in an Edenic garden under a pine tree. The neck with a neatly painted floral border. The base with an iron red horizontal seal script four-character Qianlong mark and of the period.

Among the Confucian ideals of the scholar-gentleman were the abilities to write calligraphy and to play weiqi, the subject-matter seen on the present bottle. Weiqi (or Go) is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in ancient China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played today. It was considered one of the four essential arts in antiquity and hence its depiction is frequently found on snuff bottles made of hardstone, glass, organic materials of all kinds, as well as on bottles from the Yangzhou school, although only very few of such examples have yet been recorded.

The Guzheng, also known as the Chinese zither, is a Chinese plucked string instrument with a more than 2,500-year history. It has 16 strings, movable bridges and a large, resonant cavity made from Wutong wood.

Shape: Flattened spade shape
Hollowing: Standard
Mouth, neck and lip: Short sprawling neck with slanted lip, flat top and cylindric mouth
Base: Small oval flat base with slanted rim
Design, marks, school: While the majority of the bottles from this group bear the Guyue Xuan hall mark, this is one of the rarer examples bearing a Qianlong mark
Stopper: Coral cabochon on a turquoise-colored platelet
Height of the bottle with stopper: 7.2 cm.
Width of the mouth: 7 mm.
Width of the neck: 18 mm.
Condition: Excellent condition, two or three minuscule, almost invisible nibbles to rims
Provenance: American private collection

Literature comparison: Snuff Bottles from the Mary & George Bloch Collection: Part VII. Sotheby's, HONG KONG, November 26th, 2013, lot 109. (for another bottle from this group bearing a Qianlong mark) Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. Sotheby's, LONDON, May 16th, 2007, lot 273. (for a bottle from the same group, bearing a Qianlong mark, with the depiction of the immortal Liu Hai) THE COLLECTION OF SNUFF BOTTLES OF FRANCA ARENA A.M. Bonham's, Sydney, Mai 3rd, 2016, lot 17. (for a bottle from the same group, bearing a Qianlong mark, with the depiction of a noble lady) The Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles: Part III. Christies, New York, September 14th, 2016, lot 572. (for a bottle from the same group, bearing a Qianlong mark, with the depiction of several sages) IMPORTANT CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE J & J COLLECTION. Christies, New York, March 30th, 2005, lot 75. (for a hornbill bottle with Weiqi players) FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART. Bonhams, Hong Kong, May 26th 2014, lot 9. (for an overlay bottle with Weiqi players)

清代乾隆御製揚州作玻璃胎畫琺琅"文人閑戯圖"鼻烟壺
品相極好，邊緣有兩三處極小缺陷
美國私人收藏