A DENDRITIC CHALCEDONY ‘MONKEY AND HORSE’ SNUFF BOTTLE OFFICIAL SCHOOL, QING DYNASTY, MID-18TH / MID-19TH CENTURY

very well hollowed, with a recessed convex foot surrounded by a protruding flat footrim, the natural markings in the stone edited on one side to create a scene of a monkey, seated on the back of a horse, reaching towards a bee in flight while the horse grazes in front of a rocky outcrop beneath a tree, the other side with two layers of different colour carved as a cameo of a man, wearing only trousers and sandals, holding a basket on a pole over one shoulder; the jadeite stopper with a coral finial and vinyl collar

Robert Hall, London, 1985.

Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 1998, no. 284.

The snuff bottle is in very good condition. The lip and footring are in good condition. The actual colour of the stone is slightly more greyish, less pale compared to the catalogue illustration.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The carver of the present bottle has extensively edited the thin plane of dendritic brown colouring in the stone. Only the upper foliage in the tree and the large rock and the smaller one beneath the tree are not edited.  This is a rare example where a well-defined, equally powerful subject is found on each main side. It also endorses the assumption that both cameo and silhouette chalcedony bottles would have been made in the same workshops, the choice being dictated largely by material and market demand. The cameo style of one side here takes full advantage of two planes of colour in the stone. Such multiple planes are often found in chalcedony, and particularly in agate, where any striated material if cut at right angles to the planes of striation would provide multiple layers.

Although the hollowing here is well done, even into the shoulders, the foot is of the easier, recessed convex type, although unusually well carved. This combination may indicate that the bottle was produced relatively early in the general decline of carving standards or that it is a nineteenth century work on which the carver took special care because of the unusual material. Figure subjects of this type, although usually in silhouette rather than cameo, seem to have been a later development, perhaps beginning in the Qianlong period but flourishing during the nineteenth century.