1750-1860

Details

**AN UNUSUAL CARVED AGATE SNUFF BOTTLE
1750-1860
Of well-hollowed, cylindrical form with a wide mouth, flat lip and flat circular foot surrounded by a footrim, one flattened panel carved using the opaque caramel coloring in the stone with a chi dragon chasing a flaming pearl, glass stopper with gilt-bronze collar
2 in. (6.39 cm.) high

Provenance

Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 29 April 1992, lot 516

Literature

Moss, Graham, Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle. The J & J Collection, Vol. 1, no. 132

Exhibited

Christie's, New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

Lot Essay

Despite its extremely unusual form, perhaps derived from the plume-holder on an official hat, the design on this bottle identifies it as part of the larger Official School discussed by Moss, Graham, Tsang in A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Vol. 2, Quartz, (and formerly, under the designation of 'Group B' by Hugh Moss in Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group. The superb hollowing of this bottle, accomplished through an unusually wide mouth, provides a high degree of translucency which acts as a counterpoint to the opaque dragon, which is carved in low relief, with some areas almost in silhouette.

Cylindrical bottles, while commonly found in porcelain, are in fact, an exception in chalcedony. Two other cylindrical chalcedony bottles are illustrated by R. Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, nos. 142 and 143.

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