Bottle ID: 917

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FOSSILIFEROUS, BLACK WITH WHITE FOSSILS

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 58 mm

Fossiliferous limestone, of flattened rectangular form with sloping shoulders and a neatly carved foot rim, well hollowed, the black limestone body with a dense network of fossil inclusions mostly appearing as gray dots or circles, or at the narrow sides as elongated lines.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 231 and no. 679
Low, Denis S. K. More Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, 2002, p. 268, no. 247.
Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, 1976, p. 174, no. 672.
Moss, Hugh M. [ed.] Chinese Snuff Bottles: 6, from the Collection of the Rt. Hon. The Marquess of Exeter, K.C.M.G., 1974, p. 147, no. S.19.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio
Christie's, New York, March 30, 2005, lot 47
The J and J Collection
Hugh M. Moss Ltd.
Sotheby's, New York, March 26, 1982, lot 132
Bob C. Stevens

Exhibited:

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

Published:

Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 146-147, no. 80
Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, 1976, pp. 174-175, no. 675
Moss, Hugh M. [ed.] Chinese Snuff Bottles: 4, p. 35, no. 1

Denis Low has compared this type of fossiliferous limestone to the shagreen bottles made from shark or ray-skin, such as that in the Crane Collection (no. 679). Whilst this might be the case on a purely visual level, this type of limestone has a very smooth almost silky feel to its surface, whilst a “shark-skin” bottle is knobbly and one of the least tactile of all material types.

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