A CHALCEDONY 'MAKARA' SNUFF BOTTLE QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

Robert Kleiner, London, 1992.

Robert Kleiner, Boda Yang, and Clarence F. Shangraw, Chinese Snuff Bottles: A Miniature Art from the Collection of George and Mary Bloch, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 238.
National Museum of Singapore, Singapore, 1994-1995.

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. 245.

One tiny chip to the edge of one carved fin. A smoothed repair to a chip on the other fin (similar position). The lower jaw slightly awkward, and possibly re-shaped
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The creature here is probably intended as a dragon-carp, the symbol of a candidate passing the metropolitan examinations and qualifying as an official. This mythical creature and its symbolism are based upon observation of Yellow River carp swimming upstream and leaping over the falls at the ‘Dragon gate’ (Longmen), a particularly arduous task following a long, upriver journey, hence symbolising the final triumph of the student. The carp is thought to be transformed into a dragon, while the student becomes a scholar, qualifying automatically for official service. As a rule, such dragon-carp would be expected to have two horns, but such details are flexible in mythical expression and the head here is sufficiently dragon-like with or without two horns to carry the required symbolism.

This is also an unusual model because of the style, which is rare and not as compact as one would expect of a snuff-bottle form, although not to the point of becoming non-functional. This might suggest the possibility of a conversion from another art-form, perhaps a scholar’s paperweight or even, in this case, a brush-rest, since there are two convenient places to rest a brush. It might also have been simply a scholarly bibelot, a memento of success to be played with and set aside on a desk or display cabinet as a reminder of one’s triumph in the examinations. The drilling and detailing of the mouth might also suggest a conversion, since the mouth is not an ideal one for the snuff-bottle form, sloping away quite sharply from the line of the body. This would have been rather impractical and perhaps an unlikely option for a bottle made originally to hold snuff. The detailing around the mouth also appears to be of a different style and quality to the rest of the carving, often a sign of conversion.

However, the fact is that another bottle of the same material and subject exists (Hugh Moss records), clearly by the same artist, which looks less like a conversion, and suggests that this type was made as snuff bottles. Although it is not uncommon for a single item made for one purpose to be converted to another, the chances of two rare works of art from a single source being similarly converted at a later date are much smaller. A third in the same material, but in the form of a carp, also with rather impractical protruding detail, is probably from the same school of carving and seems to confirm that they were originally produced as snuff bottles (see Christie’s London, 12th October 1987, lot 356).

The material is the yellow variety of chalcedony known as sard, and as impressive

an example as one is likely to find with its rich golden-yellow colouring. Other than the cutting of the mouth, which is a little heavy-handed, the carving of the original form is superbly done, with excellent control of the medium and a lovely fluidity to the form, which is, despite its mythical details, surprisingly convincing as a real creature.

As with most naturalistic free standing sculpture, the sort of distinct foot one finds on a snuff bottle or other container would not have been appropriate here, and the bottle stands firmly in a sensible position on its own anatomical details.