Bottle ID: 765

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UNCARVED HAIR CRYSTAL

Date: 1750-1860

Height: 55 mm

Rutilated quartz (hair crystal), the clear stone suffused with an irregular natural pattern of black tourmaline needles, and some iridescent inclusions, of slightly bulbous ovoid form with shoulders sloping to a cylindrical neck and with a neatly carved oval footrim.

Similar Examples:

Crane Collection no.s 71 and 469
Kleiner, Robert W. L. Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of John Ault, 1990, p. 51, no. 87
Perry, Lilla S. Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Adventures and Studies of a Collector, 1960, p. 60, no. 37

Provenance:

Bonhams New York, September 9, 2019, lot 253 (part)
The Dr. Philip S. Brachman Collection

 

This example has an appealing natural design of irregular black needles within the material. As a rule these bottles were often left uncarved to leave the viewer to imagine what the abstract design of the needles in the crystal represented. The Chinese refer to this type of crystal as fajing or 'human head hair', a descriptive term which needs no further explanation.

 

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