AN EMERALD-GREEN AND WHITE JADEITE SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Robert Hall, London, 1978.
Collection of Gerd Lester, 1986.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1987, cat. no. 54.
Les plus belles collections privées de Hong-Kong, Galeries Lafayette, Paris, 1990, p. 6.
Kleine Schätze aus China. Snuff bottles—Sammlung von Mary und George Bloch erstmals in Österreich, Creditanstalt, Vienna, 1993.
Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 104.
Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

Robert Kleiner, Chinese Snuff Bottles. Images of Asia, Hong Kong, 1994, pl. 2.
Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 172.

Good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This bottle is part of the extended group of extremely well hollowed, plain jade bottles of a type that was probably made in a number of workshops over an extended period of time. Within the larger group, however, there are a number of sub-groups that can be attributable to the same workshops at the same time, and in some cases, to the same source of material.

This bottle represents one such sub-group and is very obviously by the same workshop and from the same piece of material as no. 63 in the J & J Collection (Moss, Graham, and Tsang 1993, p. 126). The stone is identical and so are the height, the diameter of the mouth, and the degree of hollowing, while the form is very close to being identical. The diameter of the lip varies very slightly, although by only 0.3 mm, which would be virtually unmeasurable without accurate callipers.

For a discussion of jadeite and a re-assessment of its earliest use in snuff bottles, see Sale 4, lot 7, which has led to the earlier possible date range for this bottle. The change in the later date range reflects the fact that the best of this group were probably not made much later than the Daoguang period.