exquisitely carved, of flattened ovoid form on a petite tapered foot, the body carved in relief revealing the outer green and two inner layers of yellow and pink, on an opaque creamy-white ground, depicting a continuous scene of a figure crossing a foot-bridge, perhaps to greet the nearby fisherman poling his sampan, surrounded by towering wutong and palm trees, the sloping shoulder decorated with birds flying in the mist, rising to a slender neck, the base with a three-character Shende Tang seal mark
SHENDE TANG SEAL MARK, 1833-1850
ATTRIBUTED TO YANGZHOU
Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Joseph Baruch Silver Collection.
Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd May 1994, lot 925.
Clare Lawrence, 'An Analysis of the Seal School Group of Glass Snuff Bottles', JICSBS, Summer 1993, p. 14, nos. 42 and 45.
Clare Lawrence, 1993 Snuff Bottle Engagement Diary, August/September and front cover.
Emily Byrne Curtis, Pure Brightness Shines Everywhere. The Glass of China, Burlington, VT, 2004, p. 113, figs. 12.9 - 12.10.
This rare color combination is known to exist on one other triple overlay snuff bottle in the collection of Rachelle R. Holden. It also depicts a walking figure and a fisherman on a pavilion and lake, and is illustrated in Rivers and Mountains Far From the World, New York, 1994, pl. 126, pp. 288-289. Its comparable shape, colors and carving suggest that the Holden bottle was probably created in the same workshop.
The three-character Shende Tang (Hall of Prudent Virtue) mark is unusual, as the majority on porcelain pieces are four-character marks. Other than porcelain wares, only three paintings and one other snuff bottle exist with this type of Shende Tang mark. The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, has in its collection the only other bottle known with a three-character Shende Tang mark on its base. Intriguingly, one of the paintings features the Daoguang emperor seated with a ruby red glass snuff bottle by his side.
A discussion by Clare Lawrence on this subject, featured in the JICSBS Summer 1993 issue, p. 16, explains that 'early Chinese records, compiled at the turn of the century (in the Yinliu zhai shuocu and the Taoya - 1906) state that although Shende Tang pieces with three-character marks are rare, they do exist.' Lawrence continues, '...the mark would have been added by the imperial mark-writer within the Palace. In the hierarchy of imperial marks, the use of a three-character form for the Shende Tang is a highly personalized form of imperial identification...'
The Shende Tang was the residence of the Daoguang emperor, situated within the Yuanmingyuan complex in Beijing. The use of the mark appears to be limited to the reign of Daoguang (1821-1850) and specifically from 1833 onwards, when pieces for the Shende Tang are recorded in the Archives of the Imperial Household Department.
