QING DYNASTY, 18TH-19TH CENTURY

Jade eggplants of this design were usually made in the form of smaller snuff bottles, such as the set of ten in the National Palace Museum Collection, also carved out of white jade and inlaid with spinach-green jade as the stem, illustrated in Lifting the Spirit and Body: The Art and Culture of Snuff Bottles, Taipei, 2012, no. IV-058. Large vases with covers like the current example are extremely rare. It was very likely intended to be a treasured item for display rather than having any practical use, since it could not stand on its own without a wooden stand.