Bottle ID: 186

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PLAIN RECTANGULAR

Date: 1760-1820

Height: 66 mm

 

Nephrite, the stone of a flawless, pure white material, very well hollowed, of flattened rectangular form with rounded shoulders and a raised oval foot rim.

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 170
Crane Collection no. 428
Crane Collection no. 150
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 418-419, no. 162.
Christie's, New York, March 21, 2002, lot 230, The Blanche B. Exstein Collection.
Sotheby's, New York, October 25, 1997, lot 195, The Gerry P. Mack Collection.

 

Provenance:

Hugh Moss [HK] Ltd.

 

 

At some time during the Qianlong period a trend developed for plain undecorated bottles, usually in hardstones, but predominantly in nephrite. The majority of them are very well hollowed through an unusually narrow mouth, showing the skill and dexterity of the maker. A staple of this production was in white nephrite of the highest quality and purity, which may suggest a date after 1760 when the Qing dynasty extended it boundaries to include the jade producing regions of Khotan (in Xinjiang province). From then on vast quantities of the purest stone were provided on an annual basis as tribute to the Emperor, lasting until the Daoguang period.

It is well known that He Shen, Qianlong's corrupt and powerful prime-minister had a prolific collection of bottles, around 1400, of which 800 were of white jade, which were confiscated and redistributed in the Court after his forced suicide in 1799 in the following reign. Although it will never be possible to know which of the bottles in present day collections belonged to He Shen, one can always imagine that a bottle such as this would have been a contender for his collection.

 

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