1760-1860

Jadeite comes from a remote part of Burma, and first became a readily available material probably between 1784 and 1800, when relations between Burma and China improved with the opening up of regular trade. It is likely that bottles such as this example represent the earliest popular use of jadeite in China. With the Imperially inspired snuff-bottle craze at its height during the late eighteenth century, there can be no question that a striking new material arriving on the scene would promptly be carved into bottles. Porcelain bottles made to imitate jadeite during the Daoguang period attest to its well-established popularity; cf. the example from the J & J Collection illustrated by Moss et. al., The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, no. 251.

The jadeite material of this bottle is quite extraordinary and has a distinctive, rather milky emerald-green color and textural pattern. There is a small group of bottles of this distinctive stone, all presumably from a single boulder, which are discussed by Moss, Graham, Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, vol. 1, Jade, no. 187. Another is in H. Moss, Snuff Bottles of China, p. 67, no. 4.

The pleasantly soft polish of this bottle is an appealing change from the glassy glitter generally preferred by the jadeite carver.