Bottle ID: 713

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CARVED, PAVILION, PINE, BAMBOO

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 57 mm

Crystal, very well hollowed, of squared form with rounded shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck, the almost flawless stone carved in low relief on one main side with an atmospheric scene depicting an austere pavilion under a pine tree, with bamboo rising from behind serrated rocks, with a single cloud high in the sky.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 385 (citrine).
Crane Collection no. 416 (amethyst).
Michael C. Hughes. The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. Chinese Snuff Bottles, 2009, pp. 162-163, no. 126.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, 1998, Vol. 2, part I, pp. 194-196, no. 254.

Provenance:

Bonhams San Francisco, June 23rd, 2015, lot 7179
The Barbara and Marvin Dicker Collection
Robert Kleiner, acquired February 7th, 1990, New York

 

The group of crystal snuff bottles, to which this example belongs, often depicts an evocative scene excuted in a "painterly" style which, carved on the surface of a crystal bottle is very tranquil. It is easy to imagine the literatus seated at his desk holding this bottle and imagining himself to be elsewhere, having escaped the day-to-day drudgery of his life, to a pavilion overlooking the banks of a river or lake.

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