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Lot Essay
The double gourd is a symbol of longevity, good fortune, and the hope for ample male progeny, all of which is reinforced in the design of this exceptional bottle by the addition of the characters daji ('great fortune'). Noteworthy with this outstanding bottle is its perfect symmetry, well-balanced shape and masterful hollowing, even in the upper part of the lower bulb. Several factors of the present bottle allow for a tentative attribution to the Palace workshops at Beijing. First, crystal was a popular material for snuff bottles, and such flawless material would certainly have satisfied the Court's desire for novelty. The double-gourd form was also popular at the Palace workshops during the Qianlong period. There is a large series of double-gourd-form hard-stone bottles still in the Imperial Collection, some of which bear the Qianlong reign mark; see, for example, the Qianlong-marked white jade bottles illustrated in Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, nos. 121 and 123, and the unmarked examples illustrated, ibid., nos. 119, 120 and 122. Compare, also, the double-gourd hard-stone bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Snuff Bottles. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2003, which include jade examples, nos. 191, 198, 208, 222-3, as well as examples in agate and rock crystal, nos. 256, 257 and 275. Finally, the auspicious form and design would have made the bottle more than appropriate for presentation as a gift, and the Qianlong emperor is known to have had large numbers of bottles made in order to give them away on specific occasions.