
Coco Li
Cataloguer / Sale Coordinator, Chinese Works of Art
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Cataloguer / Sale Coordinator, Chinese Works of Art

Senior Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group

Vice President and Head of Department

Senior Specialist
1750-1830 棕白玉刻玉蘭圖鼻煙壺一件
For a pair of identical magnolia bud bottles (with different stoppers), see Sotheby's London, 23 March 1988, lot 397
The majority of jade snuff bottles of this type with separately made leafy collars depict eggplants. The choice of a magnolia therefore is more unusual. While not an uncommon subject in Chinese paintings, as a fully dimensional object, it is. For a set of six magnolia bud bottles in a wood presentation box, see ICSBS, Journal, Winter 1991, front cover from the Mary and George Bloch Collection.
For another Magnolia snuff bottle, of slightly larger and wider proportions than ours, and depicting an opening bud, see Robert Hall, Chinese Snuff Bottles V, From the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Trojan, London, 1992, p. 22, no. 29
For an eggplant example see Masterpieces of Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Palace Museum, Taiwan, pl. 41