Bottle ID: 131

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CARVED, ELEPHANT AND FO-DOGS

Date: 1750-1800

Height: 50 mm

Amber, well hollowed, of rich clear honey tones and small rounded form with a cylindrical neck, carved in low relief on one side with a caparisoned elephant, the reverse carved with two gamboling Fo-dogs and a brocade ball.

Similar Examples:

Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, 1976, pp. 176-177, no. 692.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 7, Part 1, pp. 282-283, no. 1576.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Monimar Collection
Clare Lawrence Ltd.

Along with other cultures the Chinese treasured amber as a precious substance, believing that it took a thousand years for the pine resin to fossilize into amber, thus it was seen as a symbol of longevity and immortality. It was also symbolic of courage, with the brown-red color being known as ‘hubo’, a term also meaning “soul of the tiger”, as it was believed that when a tiger died its spirit went into the ground and was consumed by the amber. Yellow and orange amber is known as ‘jinbo’ and the cloudy and opaque brown tones as ‘mila’ although this last term may cover the word ‘amber’ in general.

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