Page 98 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC
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A RARE GREEN-STAINED WALRUS-TUSK TWO-PART SNUFF A number of similarly-shaped rounded rectangular walrus tusk bottles
BOTTLE are recorded and nearly all have been stained in a deep-emerald green
1800-1850 color which appears to be in direct imitation of a dark green jadeite.
Of rounded rectangular shape with a short neck and simple oval This assertion appears to be validated when we compare our bottle
foot rim, the body in two sections with entire shoulder removable, all with a jadeite example from the Bigelow Family Collection illustrated
stained in emerald green; stopper. by Robert Hall, Serendipity, Chinese Snuff Bottles XVI, no. 100. The
2 1/2in (6.4cm) high Bigelow bottle, like ours, is unusually constructed. Not with a lifting
shoulder as in our example but with a removable foot, which the
$10,000 - 15,000 author suggests could be used as a snuff dish.
1800-1850 漂綠色海象牙鼻煙壺 It seems highly likely that our bottle was made for use on a scholar’s
desk, rather than for transportation, given that the shoulder, whilst
Provenance: snuggly fitting, might have a tendency to work loose; and the fact that
Hugh M. Moss, London, 1970’s the top is not fully drilled with a mouth and the shoulder must be lifted
Viviane Jutheau, 1980 in order to spoon the snuff.
Mei Ling Collection
Sotheby’s New York, The Mei Ling Collection, 15 March 1984, lot 138 There are a few recorded examples published, see Michael C. Hughes,
Robert Hall, 1990’s The Blair Bequest, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Princeton University
Art Museum, Baltimore 2002, p. 103, no. 110; Robert W. L. Kleiner,
Literature: Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of John Ault, pp. 62-63,
Viviane Jutheau, Guide Du Collectionneur De Tabatiéres Chinoises, no. 108; Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury Of
p.129, no. 2 Chinese Snuff Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 7,
Part 1, Organic, Metal, Mixed Media,, pp. 234-235, no. 1559; Robert
Exhibited: Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles XV, The SB Collection, no. 130, formerly in
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, Waldorf Astoria, thr Pamela R. Lessing Friedman Collection; Robert Kleiner, Chinese
New York, 5-9 November 2013, no. 23 Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Denys and Eithne Cowell, Hong
Kong, 2003, p. 14, no. 20; and another illustrated in the catalogue,
Snuff Bottles of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978,
p. 93, no. 141.
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