A TSUDA FAMILY LAC-BURGAUTÉ 'BUTTERFLY' SNUFF BOTTLEMetal with lacquer coating and various inlays. Japan, Kyoto, before 1920In the shape of a formalized butterfly, inlaid with gold and silver foil, abalone shell of various colors, painted in gold lacquer, gold- and silver-lacquer spray, and with some areas of speckling of abalone shell, all on a black lacquer ground, to depict a scholar resting on a river shore, surrounded by trees, mountains, clouds, rockwork, boats and a pagoda, the reverse with flying cranes above a variety of lake shore plants, surrounded by rocks, clouds and a butterfly, one crane carrying a mistletoe in his beak. The narrow sides inlaid with formalized flower heads, the neck and matching stopper with a band of dots of abalone shell, all between bands of silver foil.Lac-Burgauté was developed as an art form mainly between the Song and the late Ming, but was taken up by Japanese artists later; it was also produced for both the Japanese and the Chinese market in the Ryukyu Islands off the east coast of China. The more colorful shell is derived mostly from the abalone (Haliotis family, among which is Haliotis Japonica), also known as 'sea-shell ear' because of its shape. There are two main groups of butterfly-shaped snuff bottles. The first follows this general shape, with the inlay depicting the real insect, albeit abstracted, with two butterflies, one on each side, each shown with the upper body spread out like a specimen. The second is of butterfly shape, but the decoration is entirely unrelated to the insect, such as is the case with present bottle. The likely evolution is that those with the butterfly form and decoration preceded those with other decoration. A third group came later, perhaps in the 1920–1950 period, where the butterfly shape is also embellished with relief decoration of various other materials in the Tsuda style, but without Lac-Burgauté work; this is usually of second-rate quality and by the anonymous lesser workshops producing embellished works.The base with a painted, apocryphal four-character Qianlong mark in seal script.Shape: Butterfly formHollowing: StandardMouth, neck and lip: Shorty cylindric neck, with bare metal lip and flat top, large mouthBase: Flat, with a naturalistic double-foot made of elements of the butterfly formDesign, marks, school: Tsuda family, Kyoto, Japan, 1890-1941Stopper: Matching stopperHeight of the bottle with stopper: 7 cm.Width of the mouth: 6 mm.Width of the neck: 10 mm.Condition: Excellent, with only minor wearProvenance: American private collection, old collector labe “106” near baseLiterature comparison: Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 7, part 2, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 1707. FINE CHINESE ART. Bonhams, Hong Kong, November 28th, 2011, lot 147. (both for a butterfly bottle from the first main group, as a comparison with the present bottle, which is from the second main group)1920年前制日本津田家族金屬胎黑漆嵌螺钿蝴蝶形“山水”鼻烟壺品相極好, 衹有一點輕微磨損美國私人收藏, 進底座部有藏家標簽“106”