A RARE JASPER BOTTLE

1780-1830

Details

A RARE JASPER BOTTLE
1780-1830
Of small flattened rounded shape, unusually and very finely carved with a peony to one side cleverly utilising a rust-brown inclusion, the other side with two fan-tailed fish amidst swirling waters and fronds again utilising the inclusions, stopper
1.15/16in. (4.9cm.) high

Provenance

Bob C. Stevens Collection
Sotheby's, New York, 26 March 1982, lot 130

Literature

Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles: Four, London, 1966, p. 43, no. 8
Bob Stevens, The Collector's Book of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Tokyo, 1976, p. 139, no. 514
Chinese Snuff Bottles & Dishes from the Bob C. Stevens Collection, Mikimoto, Tokyo, Catalogue, 1978, no. 149

Exhibited

Mikimoto, Tokyo, Japan, 1978, no. 149

Lot Essay

See Robert D. Mowry, China's Renaissance in Bronze: The Robert H. Clague Collection, Phoenix, 1993, p. 219 where the author notes "The goldfish, jinyu, and the peony are emblematic of wealth. The character for fish and abundance, yu, are homonyms. The natural pairing of fish and water is also a rebus, yushui hexie, 'May you be as compatible as fish and water', a reference to marital harmony and fecundity."

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