A White Jade ‘Double Bottle’ Snuff Bottle Qing Dynasty, 18th Century

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28th October 1992, lot 374.

Moss et al., 1996-2009, vol. 1, no. 87.

Minute chip to the outer lip of the double gourd. A small chip to the outer footrim of the ovoid. A further tiny chip on the base of the side panel on the ovoid bottle.
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Several features suggest the possibility of a palace attribution for this formally unique double bottle. The hollowing, although perfectly adequate, is not extremely well done. The gourd, for instance, is hollowed into both bulbs but does not entirely follow the outer profile of the bottle itself.

The unusual pairing bespeaks court production that had to satisfy a patron for whom vast numbers of bottles were made and whose attention could be caught only by artistic novelty.

The integral snuff dishes seen here appear often on known imperial products, although they are not exclusive to imperial production, and the double-gourd form is common on palace bottles. More significant, perhaps, is that this double bottle does not stand straight without a stand. The imperial collection presents clear evidence of the Qianlong emperor’s preference for ornamental stands, even for many of the ancient works of art in his collection. It seems likely that this bottle was originally conceived to be set on a wooden stand that would allow it to stand upright, whereas without one it leans to one side with the foot of the bottle with integral dishes lifted slightly off the ground.

The two shapes of these bottles complement each other ideally. The greater height of the gourd accentuates their asymmetry, and the gourd is also of unusually elegant form; its waist is ideally placed above the centre line of the other bottle, creating far more intriguing visual tension than could have been achieved by a central location.