Lot 1115
Treasury 1, no. 174 (‘The Wufu Jadeite’)
HK$300,000

Jadeite; extremely well hollowed; with a concave foot surrounded by a flat footrim
1770–1860
Height: 5.12 cm
Mouth/lip: 1.26/2.01 cm
Stopper: jadeite; coral finial; coral collar

Provenance:
Robert Hall (1985)

Published:
Kleiner 1987, no. 43
Treasury 1, no. 174

Exhibited:
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993

The material here is unique among jadeite snuff bottles in being of almost crystal-like clarity. Its remarkable transparency is such that it is just possible to distinguish boldly printed text through the entire width of the bottle. It is of a somewhat similar colour to Sale 1, lot 17, although less obviously blue here because of its greater transparency. The stone is suffused with ice-like markings that resemble those more frequently found in crystal and with a few dendritic inclusions of bluish-green on one main side.

The extraordinary hollowing relates it to a group of similar bottles from the mid-Qing period and is achieved here through an unusually wide mouth, a common alternative to the narrow mouth of some of the group. The hollowing appears to be of still greater virtuosity than it is because of the transparency of the material. It is not as thinly hollowed as Sale 1, lot 59, which represents for this group—and indeed for any hardstone snuff bottle—virtuosity carried to a seemingly almost impossible extreme. In common with all of these bottles, it is a delight in the hand and its wide mouth gives it considerable appeal. With the stopper removed, these large mouths allow one to enjoy the interior form almost as much as its exterior counterpart.

This is not the Sotheby’s sale catalogue. This is a product of Hugh Moss for the purposes of this website. For the catalogue details please refer to Sotheby’s website or request a copy of a printed sale catalogue from Sotheby’s.