An Inscribed White Jade ‘Prunus’ Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th / 19th Century

Eugene Sung, New York, 1993.

Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 1, no. 36.

It is in good condition.
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The poem from which the line engraved on this bottle is taken is the sixth of a set of nine regulated verses on the prunus by Gao Qi 高啟 (1336 – 1374). Some interpreters take the line as expressing the poet’s sorrow at being unable to find the plum blossoms, others mention the story of a greedy official in Hepu 合浦, a city on the Guangxi coast that was a centre for pearl harvesting: the pearls ‘went far away’ until the official was replaced. And of course there is the common belief that pearls were the tears of mermaids. Certainly some or all of this lore is hovering in the background, but in the context of this bottle it seems reasonable to take the pearls as fallen flower petals that float on the water, pearl-like tears that have dropped from the trees.

The pointed upper branch is carefully carved to conceal a flaw in the stone, which has become all but invisible because of the line of the branch. The other branch, falling from the neck, also follows the line of a strangely shaped patch of nephrite whiter than its surrounding matrix, which gives the prunus more vitality and allows the otherwise fairly even and very pleasing greenish-white stone to appear more pure and white than it otherwise would.

Formally this bottle is a delight, with its very small mouth (a feature found on jade bottles attributable to the palace workshops and other centres as well), perfect formal integrity, and an unusual foot of finely carved concave oval shape surrounded by a flat footrim. The hollowing is also excellent, reaching well down to the foot as opposed to stopping short as is common with at least one group of bottles attributable to the court (and probably intended for display and requiring the stability associated with a heavy base). It has been well worn through use, with the edges of the incising smoothed over through a good deal of handling.