AN ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS ROCK CRYSTAL SNUFF BOTTLETransparent rock crystal, smooth polish to surface and inside (!) of the bottle. China, 1760-1860Carved with an impressive hollowing in consummate harmony with a perfectly balanced pear form, raised mock ring handles on the shoulders, with its flawless, otherwise undecorated stone of paper-thin quality encapsulating the essence of purity.Masterly plain crystal bottles from the mid-Qing period appear in a number of published collections and always benefit from a perfectly matching stopper and a lovely old spoon of the right length, both of which are present in this lot. The spoon, however, needs a bit more attention in this case, because it is delicately carved of a single (!) piece of organic material, depicting an extended arm with three bracelets and an open hand, designed to pick up the snuff.Shape: Flattened pearHollowing: ExcellentMouth, neck and lip: Sprawling neck, flat top, small cylindric mouth, slanted inner and outer lipsBase: Oval, with raised flat foot rim, slantedStopper: Pink quartz with carved old spoon, on onyx plateletHeight of the bottle with stopper: 6.4 cm.Width of the mouth: 6 mm.Width of the neck: 15 mm.Condition: Excellent, with two tiny, almost invisible nibbles to foot rim, and one smoothened imperfection in the material also on the foot rimProvenance: American private collection, inscribed collector number to topLiterature comparison: The Guo'an Collection. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30 October 2000, lot 605. Clare Lawrence, Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom: The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, London, 1996, pp. 84-95, p. 41. Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, The Art of the Chinese Snuff Bottle, New York, 1993, Volume I, pp. 171-173, pls. 93-94. (all for related bottles) Treasures from the Sanctum of Enlightened Respect, p.204, no.175, (for a related bottle bearing the hall mark of the Fifth Prince of Ding, Xingyouheng Tang) John Gilmore Ford, Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Edward Choate O'Dell Collection, Baltimore, 1982, no. 21. The Joe Grimberg Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles. Sotheby’s, New York, September 14th, 2010, lot 63. (both for crystal bottles fitted with a similar spoon bearing bangles)清代清澈無瑕水晶鼻烟壺品相極好, 足部邊緣有兩道及不可見的磕碰傷以及一點瑕疵美國私人收藏, 頂部有藏家編號