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Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art including the Francine and Bernard Wald Collection of Fine Snuff Bottles, Part I

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A SUPERB BULBOUS CHALCEDONY AGATE 'BIRD AND LOQUATS' SNUFF BOTTLE Suzhou, 1750-1860 image 1

A SUPERB BULBOUS CHALCEDONY AGATE 'BIRD AND LOQUATS' SNUFF BOTTLE Suzhou, 1750-1860 image 2

PROPERTY FROM THE FRANCINE AND BERNARD WALD COLLECTION OF FINE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES

Lot 200

A SUPERB BULBOUS CHALCEDONY AGATE 'BIRD AND LOQUATS' SNUFF BOTTLE
Suzhou, 1750-1860

17 March 2025, 09:00 EDT

New York

Sold for US$53,760 inc. premium

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A SUPERB BULBOUS CHALCEDONY AGATE 'BIRD AND LOQUATS' SNUFF BOTTLE

Suzhou, 1750-1860
Of rounded bulbous shape, brilliantly carved in mid-relief and making exceptional use of the natural dark markings in the matrix of the otherwise almost transparent misty gray stone to depict a well-fed plump bird eyeing a group of loquats at the end of the tree branch on which he balances, and which rises from serrated rockwork below, the reverse side carved from a paler honey inclusion with a wide swathe of curling serrated rockwork and a small outgrowth of wutong, supported on a shallow concave oval base and with a short cylindrical neck with flat rim and small mouth, extremely well hollowed interior.
2 1/4in (5.7cm) high, stopper

Footnotes

1750-1860 蘇作瑪瑙巧雕異石禽鳥枇杷圖鼻煙壺一件

Provenance:
The Monimar Collection
Clare Lawrence, London, 2002

Published:
Clare Lawrence, Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom, The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles, Hong Kong, 1996, pp.134-135, no. 61.138
ICSBS, Journal, Winter 2005, front cover

來源：
Monimar珍藏
Clare Lawrence，倫敦，2002年

出版：
Clare Lawrence，《Miniature Masterpieces from the Middle Kingdom, The Monimar Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles》，香港，1996年，134-135頁，編號61.138
ICSBS Journal，2005年冬季刊，封面

Previously erroneously described as 'bird with grapes' the new identification as 'loquat' seems appropriate given the shape of the leaves and the tree branch from which they grow. A comparison of the image on our bottle, with that of the famous Southern Song Dynasty album leaf painting on silk by Lin Chun of the same subject, illustrated by Fu Sinian, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian 4: Liang Song huihua, xia (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1988), pl. 96, p. 131, in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing, entitled 'Loquats and Mountain Bird', seems to confirm this.

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