Lot Essay
For another example of a large relief-carved coral bottle see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles IV, Boston, 1991, Catalogue, lot 16. For a bottle similarly carved in Beijing blue overlay glass dated to the Qianlong period see Robert W. L. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, col. pl. 97 where the author, (quoting G. Tsang and H. Moss, Arts From the Scholar's Studio, no. 56), states that the goose has become linked in Chinese thought with the famous calligrapher, Wang Xizhi, who is said to have likened the supple line of their necks to the best brush strokes in the art of calligraphy