Page 126 - Carl Barron Snuff Bottle Collection, CHRISTIE's Spet 12 2018
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A CARVED JASPER SNUFF BOTTLE
1780-1850
The olive-brown-tone bottle is carved on the opaque-ochre stone with a cat and a butterfy
on one side, and a dog and a bird on the reverse, the narrow sides have a slight reddish color.
2¡ in. (6 cm.) high, glass stopper
$8,000-10,000
PROVENANCE
Robert Hall, London, 1999.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 2758.
EXHIBITED
Boston, International Chinese Snuf Bottle Society Convention,
The Barron Collection, 23-26 September 2008.
The cat and butterfy represent a wish for longevity. The word for ‘cat’ (mao) has the same
sound as the word for ‘septuagenarian’, and the word ‘butterfy’ (die) is homophonous
with ‘septuagenarian’ or ‘octogenarian’.
A bottle of similar material and motif currently in the S.L. Tan Collection is illustrated by
Clare Chu in Chinese Snuf Bottles from Southern Californian Collectors, Hong Kong, 2016,
pg. 135.
1780-1850年 羊肝瑪瑙雕貓犬圖鼻煙壺
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