RELEASE | CHRISTIE’S PRESENTS IMPORTANT CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTION
PRESS RELEASE | HONG KONG | 18 AUGUST 2014 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHRISTIE’S PRESENTS
IMPORTANT CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES
FROM A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTION
HONG KONG – Christie’s will offer a collection of fine and rare snuff bottles from a private American collection for auction this October. This collection of 37 bottles represents some of the most exquisite gem-like miniatures of their type.
Snuff bottles are small containers for ground tobacco, one of the most popular exotic stimulants for the Chinese elite in the 18th and 19th centuries. Once a portable vanity item, these bottles were made in a wide array of materials and decorative techniques, such as jade carving, glassware, enamel ware, ceramics, lacquer ware and bamboo.
Highlights in this collection include delicately enamelled glass bottles (illustrated above). Perfecting these bottles required great mastery in the control of the different melting temperatures of the glass body and those of the painted enamels. A lack of skills would have resulted these bottles to collapse in the kilns. These miniature forms demonstrate the highest level of expertise that was achieved in the imperial workshops during the 18th century.
‘Immersing myself in this bottle, who says that the day and night is long?’
– Yongzheng Emperor
IMPORTANT CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES FROM A DISTINGUISHED AMERICAN COLLECTION
EXHIBITION PERIOD Date: 4 to 7 October
| AUCTION Date: 7 October (Tuesday)
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Venue: The James Christie Room, 22/F Alexandra House, 18 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong
PRESS CONTACTS:
Simone Woo | Hong Kong | +852 2978 9966 | swoo@christies.com
Juliana Yeh | Hong Kong | +852 2978 6718 | jyeh@christies.com