Bottle ID: 661

< Previous page

YELLOW-GREEN, DOUBLE BOTTLE

Date: 1750-1850

Height: 55 mm

Nephrite, well hollowed, a double bottle, of yellow tones with russet markings, ‘each’ of flattened rectangular form with a neatly carved footrim and shoulders sloping to a slightly everted lip.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 458
Snuff Bottles - The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 47, Beijing, 2003, p. 136, no. 199.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1995, Vol. 1, pp. 412-413, no. 159.
Christie Manson & Woods Ltd., London, June 10, 1974, lot 140, The Ko Family Collection, Part IV.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio

Very few bottles, in any material and rarely in jade, are made as 'double' bottles. The majority of these are produced in porcelain and are generally manufactured as bottles which stand 'side-by-side', rather than 'back-to-back'. The obvious intention was to have a bottle which would hold two different varieties of snuff, thus avoiding having to carry two bottles on one's person, a situation which could easily result in damage to the bottles. Modern copies of these 'back-to-back' bottles often miss one key element in their efforts to produce convincing fakes - it is essential to have an internal joining wall between the two bottles!

< Back to full list