A White Jade Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th / 19th Century

Zhirou Zhai Collection, Hong Kong.
Hugh M. Moss Ltd., Hong Kong, 1993.

Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 1, no. 165.

It is in good condition.
"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."

This extraordinary little bottle stands poised at the point on the scale where it could be a large miniature or a small normal-sized bottle, but formally it is a masterpiece. It is superbly hollowed through a mouth about as tiny as one could imagine without making it impossible to accommodate a functional spoon, and the concavity of the foot has been carved from a base area of only 0.2 cm. The perfect formal integrity of the flawless material is matched by careful detailing of the slightly flared neck and concave lip and foot. It is, quite simply, faultless. It is a perfect miniaturization of the most elegant ovoid form of the eighteenth century. A set of nine bottles of very similar form, also in flawless white nephrite but two centimetres taller, remain in the imperial collection. There can be little doubt that these sets of bottles in the imperial collection were made for the court, since a large set of this nature would be a most unlikely requirement for a private individual, whereas the court frequently ordered in large quantities to satisfy its massive need for snuff bottles as gifts.

The incredibly small mouth suggests that it is probably no earlier than the second half of the Qianlong period, when virtuoso hollowing and the ever-smaller mouth probably came into fashion to sustain the interest of blasé snuff-bottle user.