Bottle ID: 346

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CHLOROMELANITE PEBBLE, DARK GREEN

Date: 1820-1900

Height: 53 mm

Chloromelanite, of pebble form, very well hollowed, the stone of a rich emerald green color with irregular veining and splashed black markings.

Similar Examples:

The Asian Art Studio, Inc., The Bentley Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 2008, no. 12.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 464-465, no. 184.
Sotheby's, Hong Kong, May 3, 1995, lot 534.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
Sotheby's, New York, March 23, 1998, lot 233
North Carolina Museum of Art
The Caldwell Collection

Chloromelanite is a dark green to black variety of jadeite. Its color is largely affected by the high content of iron in the stone. This type of jadeite was mined in the province of Yunnan in south-west China and hence was known by the Chinese as "Yunnan Jadeite". When purchased in Sotheby's in 1998 this bottle was catalogued as malachite, probably because of its very attractive bottle green color which is in contrast to the usual very dark greenish-black of most chloromelanite bottles.

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