Bottle ID: 101

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GREEN

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 57 mm

Crystal, well hollowed, of flattened squared shape with rounded shoulders and a neatly carved footrim, the clear stone with a sparse natural design of green actinolite needles.

Similar Examples:

Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang. The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle - The J & J Collection, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 180-181, no. 100.
Sotheby's, London, June 7, 1990, lot 193, Collection of Mrs. Galia Baylin of Hong Kong.
Lawrence, Clare. Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom - The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1996, pp. 102-103, no. 45.125.

 

Provenance:

Clare Lawrence Ltd.
The Thewlis Collection

Published:

Lawrence, Clare. The Thewlis Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1990, p. 19, no. 19

Hair crystal is a descriptive term for a group of rock crystal bottles suffused with needle-like inclusions of tourmaline (black), rutile (reddish-brown) or as in this case actinolite (green). This material was popular throughout the Qing Dynasty and whilst the varieties of inclusions can be many and varied in terms of both color and thickness, the golden-yellow and silver strands that occur in some bottles are indicative of a later date in the mid-twentieth century. The thinner needles were known by the Chinese as fajing (human head hair) whilst the thicker examples were known as zongling ('palm-fiber crystal').

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