A PUDDINGSTONE SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH – 19TH CENTURY |

Y.F. Yang, Hong Kong, 13th November 1972 (HK$5,000).

According to Bob C. Stevens in The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York and Tokyo, 1976, puddingstones are 'conglomerates of sedimentary rocks, composed of a cementing matrix holding numerous rounded pebbles, which vary in size, shape, color, textures, hardness, and mineral content.' He illustrates a puddingstone bottle, also carved with mask and mock-ring handles, op.cit., p. 167, fig. 618. Clare Lawrence, in her discussion of a puddingstone bottle in the Monimar Collection, Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom: The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles. London, 1996, p. 107, states that 'Western collectors have traditionally found "puddingstone" bottles to be most attractive if the irregular pebbles in the matrix are of a larger size.'