Page 193 - Bonhams May 11th 2017 London Fine Chinese Art

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY 女士藏品
Lots 276 - 293

276 * The wish for ceaseless generations of descendants, Guadie mianmian
(瓜瓞綿綿), which the design invokes, appears to have originated from
A RARE WHITE JADE ‘DOUBLE-MELON’ SNUFF BOTTLE the ‘Book of Odes’, compiled between the 11th and the 7th century
18th/19th century BC. The verses contained in this anthology in fact make abundant
Carved with nine melon lobes and joined on both sides by a butterfly use of plant and animal analogies to describe female beauty and
displaying finely-incised wings, the stone of even greenish-white tone human accomplishments. Butterflies die (蝶) are a homophone with
with faint cloudy and russet inclusions. the character making up the word for little gourds die (瓞), symbolic of
5cm (2in) high fertility because of the multitude of their seeds.

£5,000 - 8,000 Conjoined bottles shaped as melons are rare. Compare with a similar
CNY43,000 - 69,000 jade snuff bottle, carved as a melon, Qianlong, illustrated in The
Complete Collection of Treasures in the Palace Museum. Snuff Bottles,
十八/十九世紀 白玉瓜瓞綿綿雙聯鼻煙壺 Hong Kong, 2003, n.185, p.129.

Provenance: Eric Young, by repute
An Asian private collection of snuff bottles

來源： 據傳為Eric Young先生舊藏
亞洲私人藏鼻煙壺珍品

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot FINE CHINESE ART | 187
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.