Two Coral snuff bottles. 1750-1820

A Coral snuff bottle. 1750-1820. photo courtesy Sotheby's

of flattened rectangular form, carved on one face with two birds perched among prunus branches, and on the other with two butterflies amongst peony, the eyes of the birds and other details skillfully picked out using the pale whitish highlights in the otherwise dark salmon pink material;  height 2 1/2 in., 6.4 cm - Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 USD

PROVENANCE: Eric Young Collection.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 28th October 1993, lot 1106.

NOTE: The present bottle belongs to a group of coral bottles well carved with complex overall designs, including squirrels in grapevine, bats amongst cloud scrolls and birds in branches. This group includes the squirrel and vine bottle,  now in the Mary and George Bloch Collection, but formerly in The Bob C. Stevens Collection, illustrated by Bob C.Stevens, The Collector's Book of Snuff Bottles, New York and Tokyo, 1976, p. 282, no. 1019.

A Coral snuff bottle. 1750-1820. photo courtesy Sotheby's

of slightly bulbous form, the material of a rich dark salmon-pink color attractively suffused with striations of a darker color occasional small whitish inclusions; height 2 3/8 in., 6 cm - Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 USD.

Sotheby's. The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, New York, 14 Sep 2010