AN AMBER 'BASKET-WEAVE' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Collection of Edmund F. Dwyer.
Christie's London, 12th October 1987, lot 182.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 7, Hong Kong, 2009, no. 1579.

There is one chip to the outer lip and two further areas of nibbling, one of which may have been slightly polished out. There are fine scratches around the middle of the neck and a polished out chip from the neck. There are two small scratches across the foot and one chip to the footrim. There are also some natural flaws and a few tiny areas of damage to the main basket weave pattern.
"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."

Intriguingly, despite its likely early date, this particular example is one of those amber bottles that do not have a crizzled surface. Although crizzling denotes the natural passage of time, it is not inevitable. It is the result of continual changes in temperature and humidity, and if a piece of amber has not been subject to such changes, whether because it has lain in protected storage over a long period of time or because it has spent its existence within a temperate climate zone, it can remain without crizzling.

It is suspected that a Qianlong period date is the most likely time of production for this example. Whenever it was made, its lovely broad weave and generous form make it one of the most impressive of the known amber basket-weave bottles. A somewhat similar bottle was illustrated in Kleiner 1997 no. 154.

The stopper is as spectacular as the bottle. Beneath a standard, old coral cabochon carved with a chi dragon and inset with a malachite finial is an extremely rare white nephrite collar, very carefully and finely formed to resemble the standard gilt-bronze collar of the eighteenth century, with its incurving lip leading to a raised circular panel as a podium for the cabochon.

One reason for believing that this group of bottles was imperial is that so many of them are in almost flawless brown Burmese amber (burmite), the kind that one would expect to be most highly valued and thus used at the court.