Bottle ID: 623

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BLACK, SMOKY, CARVED WHITE FLOWERS

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 67 mm

 

Crystal, smoky, of ovoid form, very well hollowed and carved in relief using the white skin and patches of black tourmaline needles with on one side, two geese amongst lotus leaves, flowers an buds, a moth and a butterfly flying above; the reverse with a crab climbing up a spray of millet towards a snail beside lotus leaves growing from water.

 

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 446
Moss Hugh M. Chinese Snuff Bottles of the Silica or Quartz Group, 1971, p. 30, no. 64.
Christie's, New York, March 21, 2002, lot 151, The Blanche B. Exstein Collection.

 

Provenance:

Asian Art Studio

 

 

 

 

According to Jesuit documentation relating to China, by 1735 the two main centers for the production of rock crystal carvings were Zhangzhou and Zhangbu, both in Fujian Province. Bottles such as this example were likely to have been made in local workshops in these areas. There is a small, but coherent group of crystal bottles which use a secondary inclusion in the stone for cameo relief decoration, and intriguingly a number of these also contain tourmaline needles. A consistent level of high quality carving would suggest a single workshop for this group.

 

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