A Small Chalcedony 'Dragon and Tiger' Snuff Bottle Official School, Qing Dynasty, 18th / 19th Century

of compressed globular form supported on a flattened oval foot, intricately carved in low relief utilising the natural dark-brown colour of the skin to enhance the design of a dragon in clouds above rocks and waves, its tail extending to the other side where a tiger is depicted running away, the stone of a pale beige colour

For a chalcedony snuff bottle of two carp depicted leaping from waves, carved with similar technique, see Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 315. The Bloch example is inscribed with a Tongzhi reign mark, enabling the classification of these high quality Official School chalcedony snuff bottles to a later date than previously considered.