A superb jadeite 'double-gourd' snuff bottle


18th/19th centuryElegantly modelled in the form of a compressed double gourd supported on a flat oval foot rising to a flared neck, the attractively translucent stone suffused with striking emerald and apple green streaks and shades, stopper. 7cm (2 3/4in) high. (2).
|十八/十九世紀 翡翠葫蘆形鼻煙壺Provenance:Songzhutang collectionSotheby's New York, 2 December 1985, lot 198A distinguished Asian private collectionExhibited:On loan to the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, 1996-2002來源：松竹堂舊藏紐約蘇富比，1985年12月2日，拍品編號198亞洲顯赫私人收藏展覽：1996至2002年借展於新加坡亞洲文明博物館This exquisite jadeite snuff bottle demonstrates the skilled lapidary carver's unrivalled cutting and polishing skills, as well as the ingenious use of the material to highlight the variations in the stone's veins displaying the natural brilliance of the rich emerald and apple-green colour of the stone. The elegant form of a double gourd with the smoothly swelling body, superbly conveys the high level of craftsmanship achieved in the mid-Qing dynasty. The masterful quality of the carving combined with the superb and thus prized jadeite stone, strongly indicate this bottle was commissioned for the Qing Court. The double-gourd has multiple layers of symbolism. Being full of seeds, it is a symbol of fertility and progeny. It was also closely associated with the Daoist Immortal Li Tieguai who carried the elixir of Immorality in his double-gourd, which also became allegorical as the container of the soul and receptacle of good fortune. Li Tieguai's ability to travel outside his body also made his attribute a symbol of the door through which one could enter a parallel paradise.Compare with a jadeite snuff bottle of similar form and size, 1780-1850, illustrated by M.C.Hughes, The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin: Chinese Snuff Bottles, Baltimore, 2009, p.72, no.53. Another 'double gourd' jadeite bottle is illustrated in Snuff Bottles in the Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1991, p.189, no.226. A further example of smaller size, 1780-1850, from the Joe Grimberg collection, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 14 September 2010, lot 168.翠玉質，葫蘆形，短頸微收，溜肩，鼓腹，腰身內束，光素無紋。此件鼻煙壺玉質晶透，全靠打磨之工，得顯天生麗質。葫蘆多籽，而有多子多孫的寓意，藤蔓纏繞，又有子孫延綿的象征。仙道多以葫蘆為法器，如八仙之一鐵拐李。可比較一件清中期葫蘆形翠玉鼻煙壺，著錄於M.C.Hughes，《The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin: Chinese Snuff Bottles》，巴爾的摩，2009年，頁72，編號53。另可比較一件翠玉葫蘆鼻煙壺，見《故宮鼻煙壺》，台北，1991年，頁189，編號226。Joe Grimberg舊藏一件稍小的清中期翠玉葫蘆鼻煙壺亦資參考，2010年9月14日，售於紐約蘇富比，2010年9月14日，拍品編號168。