Bottle ID: 97

< Previous page

CARVED TIGERS AND BAT

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 49 mm

Agate, very well hollowed, of small rounded form and a neatly carved footrim, the pale gray stone with dappled dark brown inclusions, carved in relief on one side with two prowling tigers on a grassy bank, one looking upwards at a bat flying above.

Similar Examples:

Lawrence, Clare. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 138-139, no. 63.148.
Sotheby's, New York, June 5, 1987, lot 151, Collection of Janos Szekeres, Part II.
Sotheby's, New York, October 25, 1997, lot 82, The Gerry P. Mack Collection.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Thewlis Collection

Published:

Lawrence, Clare. The Thewlis Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1990, p. 11, no. 4

The term “cloud agate” is used by gemologists and is defined as a grayish agate with blurry foggy patches of inclusions. The cloud-like patterns in very well hollowed agate examples, which are so attractive to collectors, are not formed by clever internal polishing of the bottle, but are part of the construction of the stone – the visible six-sided prisms of the crystalline structure.

< Back to full list