A beautiful carved agate snuff bottle, probably Chien Lung period, the body in a luminous taupe color grading to a rosy tone on the top of the stopper, the carving in ivory and a mottled tortoise shell color of two figures with a horse in a landscape; expertly carved and polished, approx. 3"H x 1-3/4"W x 1-1/8"D.
It was not until the Eighteenth Century that snuff-bottles began to be made in large numbers. The traditional shape for snuff bottles were that they were small enough to fit in the palm of the hand. Generally they were provided with a small spoon fixed in the stopper and capped usually with a hemispherical piece of jade. This later touch is undoubtedly a creation of the Chien Lung period. Snuff bottles are most probably an evolution of the small medicine bottles that are common from an earlier period and the earliest dated piece is 1653. Snuff bottles often have either the makers name or the date but rarely both are present together. A large number of Chinese snuff bottles carry the mark of Chien Lung, but most of these were really made during the reign of Tao Kuang (1821-1850) or later. Further, most of the snuff bottles with the Kang Hsi reign mark were made significantly later. All of the bottles with interior painting date much later and were made into the early years of the nineteenth century.
800/1,500 Sold $862.50
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