PRINTHornbill is a large bird with a hornlike red excrescence on the upper part of its bill. The exterior is red as fire and the interior is yellow as cooked chestnuts, Hedinghong was poisonous and cause instant death. according to Chinese legend, Hornbill was a precious substance used for the manufacture of various kinds of scholar’s objects including belt buckles and snuff bottles during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the greatest carvers of the material was the scholarly artist known as Baishi , who has worked on numerous bottles that are similar in decorative style as the present lot. Compare with another hornbill snuff bottle flanked by ring handles but with a further roundel of decorative motif in the centre, illustrated in Chinese snuff bottles. From the collection of the Rt.Hon. The marquess of Exeter . Hugh Moss ltd. London, 1974, pl.0.26, pp.12-13.
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9036
A RARE HORNBILL SNUFF BOTTLE
QING DYNASTY |
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Of compressed globular form rising to a cylindrical neck from a straight footrim, flanked by a pair of auspicious bats on the narrow sides. |
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Estimate
50,000 - 80,000 195,000 - 313,000 6,400 - 10,300
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Hornbill is a large bird with a hornlike red excrescence on the upper part of its bill. The exterior is red as fire and the interior is yellow as cooked chestnuts, Hedinghong was poisonous and cause instant death. according to Chinese legend, Hornbill was a precious substance used for the manufacture of various kinds of scholar’s objects including belt buckles and snuff bottles during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the greatest carvers of the material was the scholarly artist known as Baishi , who has worked on numerous bottles that are similar in decorative style as the present lot. Compare with another hornbill snuff bottle flanked by ring handles but with a further roundel of decorative motif in the centre, illustrated in Chinese snuff bottles. From the collection of the Rt.Hon. The marquess of Exeter . Hugh Moss ltd. London, 1974, pl.0.26, pp.12-13.