Page 40 - Carl Barron Snuff Bottle Collection, CHRISTIE's Spet 12 2018

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A RARE CARVED WHITE AND ORANGE JADEITE CAMEO SNUFF BOTTLE
1800-1900
The bottle is carved on one side in high relief utilizing the orange outer layer of the stone
with a dark brown monkey climbing a tree as it holds the reins of a horse below. The icy
white reverse is incised with yi pian bing xin zai (noble-mindedness prevails) and two seals
reading ji and xiang (auspiciousness).
2º in. (5.7 cm.) high, quartz stopper
$8,000-10,000
PROVENANCE
The Gerry Mack Collection, Sotheby’s New York, 25 October 1997, lot 145.
Robert Kleiner, Belfont Company Ltd., Hong Kong, 2000.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 3029.
The combination of a monkey and horse forms the rebus mashang fenghou (‘May you
immediately be conferred the rank of Marquis’). This imagery would have made the bottle
appropriate to gift to someone completing the civil examinations or who was waiting for
an increase of rank.
The current bottle is rare as it is carved in white and orange jadeite. Bottles carved with
the combination of horses and monkeys are most often found on agate bottles using the
darker patches in the agate to render the scene. The dramatically contrasting colors of
the current bottle stand in contrast to the agate examples.
1800-1900年 翠玉巧雕馬上封侯圖鼻煙壺

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