Bottle ID: 375

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CARVED AS A DRAGON-TORTOISE

Date: 1750-1820

Height: 53 mm

Nephrite, white, exceptionally carved as a mythological tortoise with a head of a horned dragon, its curled tail modeled to come up and over the back of its cell-patterned shell, its underneath realistically carved with four feet.

Imperial, attributed to the Palace Workshops, Beijing.

Similar Examples:

Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 47, Beijing, 2003, p. 145, no. 216.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, 130-131, no. 51.
Low, Denis S. K. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect III, 2007, p. 65, no. 46.

Provenance:

Robert Hall

This form is a well known one and is particularly used on snuff bottles probably in view of the fact that a similar larger model made from bronze sits in the grounds of the Forbidden City in Beijing. That being said there are approximately fifiteen published bottles of this form, all of which vary slightly. Some are rounded and flat such as this example while others are more square. In Chinese mythology the bixi, or dragon-tortoise, is one of the nine sons of the dragon and is known for its strength and ability to endure.

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