Bottle ID: 683

< Previous page

TORTOISESHELL

Date: 1800 - 1880

Height: 48 mm

Tortoiseshell, of small flattened rounded form with sloping shoulders, and a flat oval base, the dappled exterior surface polished but undecorated.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 249
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 2009, Vol. 7, Part 1, p. 245, no. 1565.
Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Joseph Baruch Silver in Conjunction with the Exhibition at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Winter 1989, p. 10, no. 5.
Stevens, Bob C. The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, 1976, p. 196 -197, no. 722.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio
Beth Maxwell, Dallas, Texas
Mrs. R. Burroughs, Dallas, Texas
Mrs. McGee, El Paso, Texas

Despite the fact that tortoise-shell is visually and physically very appealing, being both beautiful and tactile, it was rarely used for snuff bottles during the Qing Period. The majority of bottles in this material were produced in the 1960’s and 70’s, along with combs, guitar picks and other small objects resulting in a trade ban under the CITES law in 1973 as the Hawksbill turtle was deemed endangered. Although easy to work and pliable a tortoiseshell bottle has to be made in pieces, generally making the finished result less attractive and not as ‘natural looking’ as the collector would hope for. This is one of the most charming of the few older examples as it is small in size and made up of few separate pieces.

< Back to full list