Bottle ID: 329

< Previous page

WITH GRAY HORSE

Date: 1780-1850

Height: 65 mm

Nephrite, creamy-white with gray inclusions, very well hollowed, cleverly carved using the different shades of the stone to depict a grazing dappled horse, a monkey above sitting cross-legged by a tall plant on a rock and gesticulating at a wasp.

Similar Examples:

Asian Art Studio, Inc., The Bentley Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 2008.
JICSBS, Autumn 1995, p. 8, fig. 16.

Provenance:

Robert Hall
Charles C. Cox

Boulders of black, gray and white nephrite seemed to have been used sparingly during the Qing Dynasty, probably because it was highly sought after and in short supply. Most of the objects fashioned from this type of stone appear to be small, such as snuff bottles, pendants and carvings. This snuff bottle has been wonderfully conceived using the material to maximum effect depicting the famous three: monkey, horse and wasp to wish the recipient of the bottle rapid promotion through the ranks of officialdom.

 

< Back to full list