A RARE CARVED CORAL SNUFF BOTTLE
1750-1800
Of elongated, ovoid form with rounded shoulders and a cylindrical neck and with a neatly carved inset oval foot, well-hollowed, the vivid pink and white stone continuously carved with a pair of mandarin ducks floating on crested waves beneath curling lotus leaves, pods and flowers; stopper.
2 1/2in (6.3cm) high
Footnotes:
1750-1800 珊瑚刻鴛鴦荷塘戲水圖鼻煙壺一件

Provenance:
C. G. Sloan & Co., November 1989
Joan and Ted Dorf Collection, no. 42

Exhibited:
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD., September 30 – December 9, 2018

Coral (corallium rubrum) is a marine animal and not a plant as most people assume. It grows and reproduces on the rocky seabed, typically in dark environments, in water with strong currents. The coral used throughout the snuff bottle period was found in the western Pacific Ocean around Japan and Taiwan. The acceptance of a flawed piece of material, which needed to be filled in parts with wax, indicates the reverence that the Chinese placed on this material. This is an extraordinary bottle because it exhibits a delicacy of carving and design where the variation in color of the material is used to best advantage to highlight the lotus leaves, pods and the ducks floating on the water.

Very good condition and elegantly carved and undercut.