PROBABLY IMPERIAL, 1750-1800

This is a rare amethyst bottle that can be attributed to the Court, with its popular Imperial subject of chilong, style of carving, and excellence of material. Few amethyst examples from Qing China have this intense evenness of color, although for another that does, without Imperial pretensions, see H. Moss, V. Graham, K.B. Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle: The J & J. Collection, New York, 1993, no. 103.

For a similar bottle, also decorated with chilong, see H. White, Snuff Bottles from China: The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection, London, 1992, pl. 55., no. 1.