Lot 391
391
PROPERTY FROM A WEST COAST PRIVATE COLLECTION
AN AGATE BOTTLE

Details
AN AGATE BOTTLE
19TH CENTURY

Carved through the pale brown skin to the pale, semi-translucent ground on one side with a horse tethered to a pine tree beside a four-character vertical inscription within a cartouche, stopper

Provenance
Gertrude Stuart Collection, 1965

Lot Essay

The inscription reads Ri xing qian li which can be translated as, '(The horse) runs thousands of miles a day'. The subject matter invokes the Chinese proverb Ma dao gong song (the horse arrives at the post)

For a similar bottle see Christie's, London, October 12, 1987, Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles, lot 327