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A carved cameo chalcedony snuff bottle A finely carved agate snuff bottle
1750-1860 1750-1860
Well-hollowed, of rounded square form with a cylindrical neck, slightly Well-hollowed, of compressed spherical form with a very gently
recessed lip, oval foot ring, one of its main sides retaining the natural waisted neck, concave lip, oval foot ring, cleverly employing the deep
contour of the stone, and carved through the opaque russet skin to inclusions in the warm honey-colored stone, skillfully carved with two
present two grazing horses, the translucent stone of a pale grayish- finely defined, lively posed monkeys sitting on rocks, one holding a
brown tone cast with lighter color patches and russet spots. peach, the other reaching out for the fruit placed at the edge of a rock,
2 5/16in (5.9cm) high the verso simply decorated with a wasp in the shoulder area.
$2,000 - 3,000 2 3/8in (6cm) high
$2,000 - 3,000
Provenance
Bernard Wald collection, NY Provenance
acquired 20 June 1992 China Guardian, Beijing, 21 October 1996, lot 1935
There exist a broad school of snuff bottles in a variety of materials Exhibited
decorated with horses carved in relief. It is a particularly common subject Norton Museum of Art, September-November, 1997
in chalcedony from the mid-Qing period. A closely related example is
illustrated in The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, Moss, Graham, Tsang, Monkey and peach, and monkey and wasp combined are well known
Weatherhill, Inc., New York, 1993, Vol. 1, p. 246, no. 153. in Chinese culture with auspicious indications. A typical image is a
monkey holding a peach, as a scene described in the 16th-century
Two horses combined, particularly when one appears to be well fed novel Fengshen Yanyi, which refers to a legend that a monkey
and the other undernourished, have had a long history in China of stole the peaches of Immortality from the garden of Xi Wangmu
being referred to two types of court officials. The fat horse is often (Queen Mother of the West). The imagery was later evolved to refer
used as the analogy of the official who takes advantage of his position to immortality and often appears in various art formats. Wasp and
and enjoys a comfortable life at the expense of the majority of people. monkey together on the other hand is a rebus for fenghou (being
The thin horse on the other hand refers to the honorable, hardworking ennobled as marquises) because of the pronunciation of wasp and
official who cares and works for people. monkey in Chinese as feng and hou respectively.
Snuff bottles with similar subject matter include one illustrated in
帶皮瑪瑙巧雕雙駿鼻煙壺 Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Pamela Lessing Friedman Collection,
Pamela Lessing Friedman, P. 90, no. 67, another in Rivers and
Mountains Far from the World, Rachelle Holden, p. 154.
瑪瑙封侯長壽鼻煙壺
Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Barbara and Marvin Dicker | 19
