A FINE HAIR CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE

1750-1880

Details

A FINE HAIR CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLE
1750-1880
Of rounded rectangular shape and raised on a recessed oval foot, the well-hollowed body with a sparse, irregular pattern of actinolite and tourmaline inclusions, stopper
2 5/16 in. (5.9 cm.) high

Provenance

Ko Collection, Beijing, 1923
Christie's, London, 12 June 1972, lot 150
Hugh M. Moss, Ltd.
S. C. Harris and R. G. H. Binney
Robert Hall
Drouot (Millon Jutheau), Paris, 6 November 1983, lot 98
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.

Literature

JICSBS, Autumn 1988, p. 4, fig. 1
Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, The J&J Collection, vol. 1, no. 100

Exhibited

Christie's New York, 1993
Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1994
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 1996-1997
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2002
Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, 2002
National Museum of History, Taipei, 2002
International Asian Art Fair, Seventh Regiment Armory, New York, 2003
Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2003

Lot Essay

The needle-like crystalline inclusions can be black (tourmaline), green (actinolite) and coppery-red or silvery-gold (rutile). It is rare to find crystal playing host to two mineral inclusions and the bottle's markings form an extraordinary composition alluding to an abstraction of reeds growing at the edge of a lake in the depth of winter. This subject is often found in Chinese paintings and, like bamboo, was a subject which allowed great expressiveness with the lines providing an intriguing pattern.

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