Bottle ID: 628

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CARVED WITH MONKEY

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 51 mm

Jasper, well hollowed, of rounded form with a neatly carved oval footrim, of mottled dark green and russet tones, carved in relief on one side with a monkey seated on a rock, holding a peach and looking furtively back over his shoulder, the reverse left uncarved.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 637
Crane Collection nos. 141 and 357
Kleiner, Robert. Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Denis Low, 1999, p. 210, no. 181.
Beaussant Lefevre, Paris, France, November 18, 2005, lot 206.
Christie's, New York, March 21, 2002, lot 176, The Blanche B. Exstein Collection.

Provenance:

Hugh Moss [HK] Ltd.
Christie's, Hong Kong, April 25, 2004, lot 834
The J & J Collection
Sotheby's, New York, November 22, 1988, lot 119
Carl Kempe Collection, Stockhom

 

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, Porland, Oregon, 2002
Naples Museum of Art, Florida, 2001-2002
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1997
Museum fur Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, 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, p. 235, no. 144

The monkey is one of the twelve Chinese Zodiac animals and is associated with a mischievous playful character.  The image of a monkey holding a peach can be traced to an episode in the epic novel ‘Journey to the West’, where the Monkey King steals a peach of immortality from the Queen Xiwangmu’s orchard, causing turmoil in the celestial court.  The material here is of the variety of jasper known as ‘bloodstone’.


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