S29 A dark smoky quartz “Classical style” snuff bottle

Description

Description:  Chinese snuff bottle of compressed flask form. This is one of the most classical shapes for old snuff bottles, most of which are carved out from quartz stones of uniform color, so that the observer is not distracted by anything else and focuses only on the purity of the form.

Foot/base:  Rounded foot and flat base

Mark:  

Dating:  18^th / 19^th Century.

Material:  Smoky quartz

Size:  58 mm high

Stopper:  Coral glass stopper with green glass collar and ivory spoon.

Provenance:  See Provenance of ceramic bottle C36

References:  See a bottle of this form sold by Sotheby’s, last picture.

Notes:  The bottle shown here as reference is dated to the 19^th century. Although of the same shape, is less squared both at shoulders and bottom, which makes it less dfficult to carve. This is the reason why our bottle is dated 18^th / 19^th century.