Japan 日本, 19th century

Black lacquer finely inlaid with iridescent shell and lacquer, the bottle of flattened shield form with a cylindrical and recessed foot, decorated on one side with magpies and a flowering peach tree within a panel, the reverse with a magpie perched on a branch of plum tree within a panel, the background with stylized floral and geometric patterns; matching stopper en suite.

Published 发布: Sotheby's Hong Kong, The Guo'an Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles, 30 October 2000, lot 566

Provenance 起源: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2000 Guo'an Collection The Countess Peel Collection Sydney Moss Ltd., 1966 This bottle belongs to a group of bottles referred to as laque Burgauté, which is a French term referring to black lacquerware inlaid with iridescent shell manufactured in the Far East. These bottles are sometimes referred to as Chinese and sometimes as Japanese made for the Chinese market in the late 19th century. Such confusion is drawn from the fact that the Japanese adopted this technique from the Chinese, with a proliferated production during the Meiji period. A Japanese school in particular worked this specific technique, with a very distinctive geometric style that can be found in this bottle and others of the same group. The school is called the Somada school and was founded by Somada Kiyosuke of Toyama in the Kyoho era (1716–1736). The technique was named after its founder and many members of his family continued to use it throughout the Edo and Meiji periods. Compare the present bottle with an identical bottle with a different subject illustrated in Hugh Moss, Snuff Bottles of China (London: 1971), cat. no. 151, and another in Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles III (London: 1990), cat. no. 85.

H: 7.5 cm including stopper

Provenance 起源: Linda F. Crawley

Published 发布: Asiantiques, A Fascination for Miniatures: The Linda F. Crawley Collection of Chinese Snuff (2008), cat. no. 110

Ref. 110-0727

SOLD