.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
It was common practice to protect large jars with an outer casing of a variety of woven or plaited material, and snuff bottles simulating a vessel tightly contained in a wicker basket or entirely simulating basket weave are found in a variety of materials including ivory, jade, amber, rock crystal, moulded gourd and glass. For a discussion on the series of basket weave snuff bottles in various materials see Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles Vol. 2, Quartz, no. 347, where it is suggested that the design was a popular Imperial subject of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The popularity of the basket weave design in general at the Qing court may arise from the probable symbolism of the basket, lanzi, which is a pun on male children, nanzi. In this instance the pun is a subtle reference in the wish for the continuality of male heirs, duonanzi, 'plenty of male children'. This concept together with duofu, 'plenty of happiness', and duoshou, 'plenty of years to live', make up the 'Three Abundances' which can be traced back to the "Heaven and Earth" chapter in Zhuangzi, The Collected Works of Zhuangzi, compiled during the Warring States period.
Compare with a snuff bottle of similar design and of smaller size, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 1178.
The popularity of the basket weave design in general at the Qing court may arise from the probable symbolism of the basket, lanzi, which is a pun on male children, nanzi. In this instance the pun is a subtle reference in the wish for the continuality of male heirs, duonanzi, 'plenty of male children'. This concept together with duofu, 'plenty of happiness', and duoshou, 'plenty of years to live', make up the 'Three Abundances' which can be traced back to the "Heaven and Earth" chapter in Zhuangzi, The Collected Works of Zhuangzi, compiled during the Warring States period.
Compare with a snuff bottle of similar design and of smaller size, sold at Christie's New York, 16 September 2010, lot 1178.