A fine and rare five-colour overlay glass snuff bottle


Possibly Imperial, Attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing, 18th/19th centuryOf elongated ovoid form, exquisitely overlaid in green, yellow, red, blue and turquoise-blue on a transparent ground, delicately carved with a dragon-carp rising from a base of foaming waves attempting to pass through the Dragon Gate above scrolling clouds, encircled by a dazzling sun and a bat in flight amidst jagged rockwork and a pine tree on the reverse, stopper. 8.2cm (3 1/4in) high. (2).
|或清宮造辦處玻璃廠所製，北京，十八/十九世紀 透明地套五彩玻璃魚躍龍門圖鼻煙壺Provenance:A distinguished Asian private collection來源：亞洲顯赫私人收藏This rare snuff bottle is brilliantly carved through multiple bright overlays, representing one of the finest achievements of Qing glass carving. Compare with a blue-overlay glass snuff bottle of similar form and related decoration of a continuous design of waves forming the base with a bat and a crane flying above a house, 1730-1780, illustrated by H.Moss, V.Graham and K.B.Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol.5, Hong Kong, 2002, no.921, which was later sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, 23 November 2010, lot 69.The carp or liyu 鯉魚 transforming into a dragon long 龍 is associated with the passing of civil service examinations, hence forming the pun yutiao longmen 魚跳龍門. According to traditional folklore, carp swim upstream in the Yellow River at Hunan towards the Dragon Gate waterfall at Longmen. It is said that the first carp which successfully surpasses the rapids will transform into a dragon fish yulong 魚龍. Such legend has led to the common saying that, 'a student facing his examinations is like a carp attempting to leap the Dragon Gate', which bears the metaphor for a scholar who passes the civil service examinations and becomes a high official.以魚躍龍門為題材之鼻煙壺更多見於套單彩玻璃鼻煙壺之例，本壺以五彩套料的組合異彩紛呈，甚為少見。瑪麗及莊智博夫婦舊藏一件珍珠地套藍玻璃長壽鼻煙壺，1730-1780年，其造型和裝飾風格與本器十分相似，見莫士撝，V.Graham，曾嘉寶著，《A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection》，第五冊，香港，2002年，編號921，後售於香港邦瀚斯，2010年11月23日，拍品編號69。在中國古代神話傳說中，魚躍龍門是指黃河裡鯉魚跳過龍門，就會變化成龍，常用來比喻人們中舉、升官等飛黃騰達之事。本壺或為皇帝賞賜貴族大臣們之用。