A FINE JADEITE 'BUTTERFLY AND MELON VINE' SNUFF BOTTLE Late 18th/early 19th century (2)A FINE JADEITE 'BUTTERFLY AND MELON VINE' SNUFF BOTTLELate 18th/early 19th centuryThe flattened circular body carved in low relief with butterflies amongst melon vines, the fruits suspended from foliate stems issuing scrolling tendrils, the stone of lustrous apple-green tone, with creamy russet inclusions to the reverse, with coral stopper. 5.1cm (2in) high (2).Provenance: an English private collection. The wish for ceaseless generations of descendants, guadie mianmian 瓜瓞綿綿, which the combination of butterflies and melons invokes, appears to have originated from the 'Book of Odes', compiled between the 11th and the 7th century BC. The verses contained in this anthology make abundant use of plant and animal analogies to describe female beauty and human accomplishments. Butterflies die 蝶 are a homophone with the character making up the word for little gourds die 瓞, symbolic of fertility because of the multitude of their seeds.Compare with a related jadeite snuff bottle, Qing dynasty, but carved with designs of chilong, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 8 October 2020, lot 43.