A WHITE MARBLE 'ARAGONITE' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Susan Chen, 1990.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 3, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 388.

Two tiny chips to the outer lip and one on the footrim, both smoothed out. Otherwise, good condition.
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Aragonite is the name applied in the snuff-bottle world to a form of pure marble with white veining. It is a somewhat inappropriate name in that in mineralogy it refers to a particular crystalline structure of calcite, whereas in the form one sees it in snuff bottles it is simply a pure white marble. The name is probably too well embedded among snuff-bottle enthusiasts to abandon it completely now, but white marbleis perhaps a more suitable term. Aragonite is also the main component of pearls, hence the similarity in appearance between this material and mother-of-pearl, although the latter yellows with handling to a much greater extent than marble.

Whatever one may call it, what distinguishes this distinctive form of marble is its pure colour and the fine striations running through it. Snuff bottles of the material are well known, if not common, and it appears to have been available from at latest the second half of the eighteenth century onwards. As a rule, the striations in this delightful marble are aligned horizontally, like most banded agate snuff bottles, but occasionally they are aligned vertically. Here, in a still rarer departure from the norm, they are aligned diagonally, clearly visible from the narrow-side view, leaving planes of solid colour over much of each main side.

This bottle is exceptional for another reason as well. The hollowing is unusually good for a soft and fragile material, making the bottle unexpectedly light in the hand. In fact, the detailing overall is excellent and the mask handles extremely well carved. Their style also links them to a wide range of similarly carved masks on a series of glass and stone bottles associated with the court, which might suggest a possible imperial connection, which might also explain the unusual hollowing.

It is possibly from the Qianlong period, but could equally be as late as the mid-nineteenth century.

This material seems to have been largely confined to the snuff-bottle world, being unknown in pre-Qing carvings and extremely rare in other forms, although a somewhat similar white marble or limestone is occasionally found carved into vessels, but without the distinctive striations of this type of marble.