Lot Essay
This lot appears to be unique in the oeuvre of figural bottles. Of published examples, the closest in appearance depicts a single boy in a squatting position with a large double-gourd vase between his legs forming the snuff bottle. For published examples of this latter design see Sotheby's London, Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Eric Young, Part III, April 24, 1989, lot 5; "A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoisseurs", Catalogue, May/August, 1996; An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles at the Tsui Museum of Art, pp. 101-101, no. 116; and Rachelle R. Holden, Rivers and Mountains Far From the World, Hong Kong, 1994, pp. 62-63, no. 18.