Lot 86

Lot 86
Treasury 2, no. 342

The Rose Quartz Birthday Peach

Stained crystal; adequately but not extensively hollowed without a defined foot; carved in the form of a peach with a severed leafy branch wrapped around it
Possibly imperial, 1730–1830
Height: 2.22 cm
Mouth: 0.32 cm
Stopper: green beryl, carved in the form of a twig

Lot 86 Provenance:
Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (1993)

Published:
Treasury 2, no. 342

This is of the earlier variety of so-called ‘rose-quartz’ available to the Chinese. Nearly all the known bottles from this type of artificially stained crystal are early, while the real rose-quartz does not seem to have been used extensively until the late Qing period and was possibly imported from South Africa. It must have originated as a substitute for the highly valued tourmaline and then evolved as a material in its own right, transcending its possible origins as a cheap substitute. We can be fairly certain of this because so many of the earlier examples in the material are so well carved. As a rule, cheaper substitutes in material attract cheaper workmanship, whereas with this material the workmanship is regularly of high quality. Its value at court seems confirmed by a superb covered bowl in the imperial collection, typical of the Qianlong period and made to the same exacting standards as many others in jade in the collection (see Zhongguo yuqi quanji 1996, p. 11). It is also a standard material for early stoppers, although used less often than its tourmaline equivalent. The documentary imperial chalcedony bottle, lot 22 in the present sale (Treasury 2, no. 352), probably from the mid-Qing period, has an early official’s-hat shaped stopper in this material.

This exquisite little miniature is also extremely well carved. The artist has taken the material into account in an inspired manner. There is a flaw running through the crystal that has been completely disguised by the leafy branch running along it, and the different tones of pink where the stain has taken unevenly, possibly intentionally so, is a perfect representation of the skin of a peach, which is always varied in colour, ripening more in some parts than in others. There is a softness to the material and colouring here, and translucence without transparency, which might have made it preferable to tourmaline for this particular work of art in the eyes of the artist who made it.

With so unusual and anonymous a product, we cannot even guess at whether it is imperial, although it may be. Tiny bottles of this type were made at court (see, for instance, the cloisonné-enamel example in the J & J Collection, Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, no. 264). What we can be sure of is that such a bottle as this would have made an ideal gift on the occasion of an imperial birthday when the emperor was flooded with gifts from all over the empire. The peach symbolizes longevity and was the commonest of motifs for birthdays in general. If not imperial, this bottle represents a class of bottle that might have been made anywhere in the empire to private order as a birthday gift for the emperor.

Whether it was intended to function seriously is another matter. By the mid-eighteenth century snuff bottles were already being collected in large numbers and, although made to function, many might not have done so. As this trend progressed, it is likely that bottles of this type would have become more symbolic than functional. Even if hollowed out extensively, which this bottle is not, it would not have held much snuff and even then, with the narrowest of necks, a single spoonful of snuff would be barely worth raising to the nose. It is more likely that to whatever extent it would function (and may have done for those occasions when a tiny amount of snuff was required), it was made more as a collector’s item and a birthday gift than as a seriously functioning container for snuff.