Lot Essay
This is an extremely delicately carved fish bottle. The lapidary has used all his skills to fashion the stone to give a fluid sweeping movement
For a discussion of fish bottles see Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, London, 1971, pp. 83-84
For a white jade fish bottle see Christie's, New York, June 2, 1994, lot 433. For another white and russet jade fish bottle see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Masterpieces from the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 1993, pp. 62-63, pl. 25. As in the current example, the fish has been carved with full fleshy lips at the stopper entrance to suggest convincingly that this was indeed carved as a snuff bottle rather than, as is the case of many other examples, a conversion
For a discussion of fish bottles see Hugh M. Moss, Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, London, 1971, pp. 83-84
For a white jade fish bottle see Christie's, New York, June 2, 1994, lot 433. For another white and russet jade fish bottle see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles, Masterpieces from the Rietberg Museum, Zurich, 1993, pp. 62-63, pl. 25. As in the current example, the fish has been carved with full fleshy lips at the stopper entrance to suggest convincingly that this was indeed carved as a snuff bottle rather than, as is the case of many other examples, a conversion