Bottle ID: 71

< Previous page

BLACK

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 67 mm

Crystal, very well hollowed, of flattened rectangular form with rounded shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck and resting on a neatly carved footrim, the clear stone suffused with an irregular natural design of dense black tourmaline needles.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no. 469
Perry, Lilla S. Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures & Studies of a Collector, 1960, p. 60, no. 37.
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. 121-124, no. 225.
Kleiner, Robert W. L. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection John Ault, 1990, p. 51, no. 87.

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Monimar Collection

This example has an appealing natural design of black needles within a clear crystal bottle. As a rule the material of 'hair-crystal' bottles such as this, was sufficiently intriguing that it was usually made into bottles of a fairly plain shape and left relatively undecorated. The Chinese refer to this type of crystal as fajing or ' human head hair', a descriptive term which needs no explanation, but clearly applies to Asian heads!

< Back to full list