Bottle ID: 626

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BULBOUS FORM, BROWN WITH DARK INCLUSIONS

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 50 mm

Agate, very well hollowed, of rounded bulbous form with an indented oval foot, of rich honey tones with dark brown mottled inclusions, carved on one side with Shoulao holding a peach, a staff over his shoulders with a hanging woven basket containing peaches, standing in a log boat, a monkey also holding a peach on a rock and with a bat swooping above.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 128
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, p. 243, no. 150.
Christie's, New York, March 19, 2008, lot 225, The Meriem Collection, Part II.
Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles - The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1998, Vol. 2, Part 1, pp. 238-239, no. 268.

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio

Some varieties of agate have two names, which are used equally, for example the type ‘dendritic agate’ has the word ‘chalcedony’ in its definition, and therefore is interchangeable with the term “dendritic chalcedony”. Technically it is not agate as it has no banding, and is in fact a variety of chalcedony. However snuff bottle collectors are not the only group of people to attribute more descriptive and sometimes poetic names to these stones as gemologists do also. This is a dendritic agate where the natural markings in the stone are allowed to speak for themselves by forming the central design.

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