A VERY RARE AND FINELY CARVED CARNELIAN BOTTLE

1750-1820

细节

A VERY RARE AND FINELY CARVED CARNELIAN BOTTLE
1750-1820
Carved in the form of a bixi, a mythological dragon-tortoise, the stone's red markings cleverly carved as the beast's head, forked antlers, bushy tail and carapace, the segmented undershell carved from the white stone, stopper
2 1/8in. (5.4cm.) high

来源

Hilda Somers Collection, acquired prior to 1952.

拍品专文

Bottles of dragon-tortoise form were generally carved from white jade, an example of which may be found in H. Moss, V. Graham, K.B. Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 1995, vol. 1, Jade, no. 51. The present bottle is an extremely rare example in quartz, combining a rich, red carnelian with a band of white and a crystalline area.

For a white jade mythical tortoise bottle still in the Imperial Collection, see Masterpieces of Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1995, p. 137, no. 131.