Bottle ID: 741

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LAPIS LAZULI, BLUE, RECTANGULAR

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 59 mm

Lapis lazuli, well hollowed, of flattened rectangular form with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck and with a neatly carved oval footrim, the vivid blue stone with inclusions of glittering pyrite and gray splashes.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 495
Kleiner, Robert. Chinese Snuff Bottles. The White Wings Collection. Hong Kong: Robert Kleiner, 1997, p. 196, no. 136
Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1976, p. 169, no. 631

Provenance:

A private Southern Californian Collection

Lapis lazuli has been mined in the remote Badakhshan Province of northeastern Afghanistan for over 6,000 years and was brought into China along the Silk Road. As a stone it was extremely important to Buddhism both for its bright color and its healing effects. It is highly symbolic of that which is sacred, pure or rare and is the given color of the principal Medicine Buddha. In one of the major sutras concerning this Buddha, Shakyamuni tells his close disciple Ananda:
I beseech you, Blessed Medicine Guru,
Whose sky-colored, holy body of lapis lazuli
Signifies omniscient wisdom and compassion
As vast as limitless space, Please grant me your blessings.

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