A fine and unusual agate snuff bottle


1780-1880Very well-hollowed, the flattened body supported on a tall pierced foot, with a waisted neck, concave lip, each main side deftly carved in shallow relief with a pair of archaistic confronted phoenix, separated by two raised animal masks on the shoulders, the material of a pale caramel color. 1 3/4in (4.8cm) high
|1780-1880年 瑪瑙雕仿古夔鳳紋獸耳鼻煙壺ProvenanceKing Feng Arts Co., 4 March 1998The design of this bottle appears to be related to a group of 19th century porcelain bottles that exist both in blue and white and famille rose enamels. Refer to the enameled porcelain bottle from the Bloch Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms on 28 May 2010, lot 118. See also porcelain bottles recorded in the exhibition catalog Chinese Snuff Bottles, A Miniature Art from the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, the Urban Council, Hong Kong, fig. 152, p. 210, and fig. 174, p. 233.