A PICTORIAL SILHOUETTE AGATE BOTTLE
A PICTORIAL SILHOUETTE AGATE BOTTLE

OFFICIAL SCHOOL, 1780-1880

Details
A PICTORIAL SILHOUETTE AGATE BOTTLE
Official School, 1780-1880
Of rounded-rectangular shape, the pale gray stone with darker on one side carved with an eagle perched on a pine, the sides carved with mask and fixed-ring handles, well hollowed, stopper
2¼in. (5.8cm.) high
Provenance
Gerd Lester Collection, New York.

Lot Essay

From the silhouette group of the Official School discussed in lot 115, this is another popular image. The eagle (ying) represents greatness in the individual, and combined with a pine tree, implies the wish that such a great man will live a long life.

For a series of silhouette agate bottles, all with bird designs, still in the Imperial Collection, see Chang Lin-sheng, Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, pp. 233 and 234, nos. 324, 325, 327, and 328.

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