Bottle ID: 159

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PLAIN WITH HANDLES

Date: 1730-1820

Height: 70 mm

Amber, of flawless, transparent golden brown color with an even interior crizzling; of very well hollowed, flattened, rectangular form with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck and with a recessed oval footrim; the narrow sides carved with mock mask and ring handles.
Possibly imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Chang Lin-sheng. Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, 1991, p.258, no.387.
Zhongguo binyanhu zhenshang [Gems of Chinese Snuff Bottles]. Edited by Gene Baochang and Zhao Binghua, 1992, no.402.
Hughes, Michael C. The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Chinese Snuff Bottles, 2009, pp.196-197, no.154.
Lawrence, Clare. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 62-63, no. 25.65

Provenance:

Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.
Sotheby's, New York, July 1, 1985, lot 105
The Kardos Collection

Published:

Connaissance des Arts, November, 1971, pp.102-109

In every sense the quality of this bottle raises it from the prolific and often mundane bottles of this genre. The flawless material is clear, rich and honey-colored and it is daringly hollowed so that it is paper-thin, with elegant mock mask ring handles to set off the dramatic material. In essence this bottle is an understated masterpiece, which can be compared to the best of eighteenth century carving of white jade.

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