A carved beryl snuff bottle, 1760-1840. Possibly Imperial, attributed to the Palace workshops, Beijing

A carved beryl snuff bottle, 1760-1840. Possibly Imperial, attributed to the Palace workshops, Beijing. photo courtesy Sotheby's

of rounded rectangular form with sloping shoulders and a short cylindrical neck, the well hollowed stone of bright translucent yellow-green color, carved in low relief making use of the natural flaws in the stone on one face with bamboo and on the other with blossoming prunus branches; height 2 5/8 in., 6.7 cm. Estimate 18,000—25,000 USD. Lot Sold  23,750 USD

PROVENANCE: Gerry P. Mack Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 25th October 1997, lot 160.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd.

NOTE: The present bottle is one of a small group of beryl bottles of similar color, some carved and others left plain, which, by virtue of their quality, shape and subject matter, are now thought to be Imperial. A bottle also formerly in the Gerry P. Mack Collection, and almost identical to the present example, but carved with a qilin and bird, is now in The Crane Collection, www.thecranecollection.com, no. 397; and another, carved with dragons, is illustrated by Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, Volume 3, pp. 122-125, no. 413, where the argument for this group of bottles being made for the Palace is discussed.

Sotheby's. The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 14 Sep 10, New York www.sothebys.com