Bottle ID: 93

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DRAGON WITH FLAMING PEARL

Date: 1750-1820

Height: 55 mm

Duanstone, inkstone (slate), of purplish- brown tone, of flattened rounded form with shoulders sloping to a slightly everted mouth, and with a shallow oval footrim, carved in low relief with a dragon emerging from the clouds to grasp a flaming pearl, the pearl depicted with a natural golden inclusion in the material, the reverse with three archaic dragons, confronted to form the character “long”, (dragon), the shoulders with mask and ring handles.
Attributed to Duan.

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 142
Low, Denis S. K. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect III, 2007, p. 293, no. 255.
Kleiner, Robert. Chinese Snuff Bottles - The White Wings Collection, 1997, p. 190, no. 131.
Sotheby's New York, April 1, 2005, lot 478, The Collection of Avrina Pugh.

 

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Sotheby's, London, June 7, 1990, lot 75
A Private French Collection

Duanstone, commonly known as ink-stone, is found in present-day Zhaoqing in Guandong Province (which was previously called Duan Province, hence the name). Tang Dynasty books mention different types of Duanstone and it is assumed that mining of the stone began around this period. The use of a single 'eye', or quyu yan (mynah's eye) which occurred in the stone was very appealing to the carvers, particularly when it was used symbolically, as is the case here, to depict a flaming pearl.

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