For two other snuff bottles of similar type, one white, the other spinach-green jade, see A Congregation of Snuff Bottle Connoissuers, Hong Kong, 1996, Catalogue, An Exhibition of Chinese Snuff Bottles at the Tsui Museum of Art, pp. 120-121, no. 140 from the Man Lung and Flora Hung Collection and pp. 144-145, no. 175 from the Humphrey K.F. Hui Collection (attributed to the Beijing Palace Workshops).

For another undecorated bottle utilising this type of natural material composition, cf. Moss, Graham & Tsang, The Art of the Snuff Bottle, no. 54.

Bottles of this delicate shape belong to a group known as meiren hu (elegant lady bottle) for its resemblance to the body line of a lady balancing on bound feet. Cf. an example offered in our New York Rooms, 18 September 1997, lot 282.

(US$6,000-8,000)