Bottle ID: 3

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SMALL RECTANGULAR

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 42 mm

Carnelian, well hollowed, of small ovoid form, the stone of a brilliant even orange color with sparse thin bands of deeper orange throughout the bottle.

Similar Examples:

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. 61-63, no. 202.
Moss, Hugh M. Snuff Bottles of China, 1971, pp. 74-75, no. 48.
Christie's, New York, September 19, 2007, lot 659, The Meriem Collection.

Provenance:

The Peking Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 1975

The vibrant color seen in carnelian is a result of the inclusion of iron in the stone; when the stone is redder it occurs as hematite, when the stone is of a more-orangey yellow it occurs as limonite. Carnelian was mined in a number of countries in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, but since Xinjiang Province was mineral rich in its chalcedony deposits, including varieties of red carnelian, it is likely that the material used for snuff bottles was mined there. It is found in pebble form at ground level or in gravel deposits.

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