31.3.386 Literate Stained Pebble Greenish-white nephrite of pebble material with brown skin and brown pigment; of well hollowed rectangular form with a cylindrical neck, flat lip and recessed flat, rounded rectangular foot surrounded by a protruding, rounded, footrim of the same shape, all six sides of the bottle with raised, rectangular panels; carved using the natural colours in the material, enhanced by brown stain, as a cameo on one main side with a ten-character inscription in raised seal script, followed by two square seals, and on the other with an engraved design of a chi dragon in clouds, emitting a cloud of vapour from its mouth, the narrow sides with mask and ring handles, one of them also with brown stain 1740-1860 Height: 6.02 cm Mouth/lip: .62/1.8 cm Stopper: chalcedony stained to simulate jadeite; gilt-silver collar Provenance: Clare Lawrence, London, June 1997 This is an unusual skin jade bottle which has obviously had its colour enhanced by brown stain, an artistic and technical option available to jade carver since at least the Song dynasty. This shape of nephrite bottle is a well known one at the Court, with considerable numbers of similar forms surviving today, some in sets, in the Imperial Collection and this may be Imperial. The form, however, cannot have failed to have been made in private workshops, since it is relatively easy to make and rather impressive, with its successive lines of panels and bottle, here enhanced by the unusual feature of raising panels at the base and shoulders as well, adding an unusual dimension to a common form. The poem is difficult to decipher, but the seals identify no particular maker or workshop, but are generalized seals of a type which can be added to a poetic sentiment, or painting, and give a literati air without being specific.