S35 A banded agate “Fingerprint” snuff bottle

Description

Description:  Chinese agate snuff bottle, with concentrical thin bands of different colors, forming a pattern similar to that of fingerprints. The bottle is of flat square shape, with raised panels on each side, and grooved corners.

Foot/base:  Flat protruded base

Mark:  

Dating:  18^th Century. (See Note below).

Material:  Agate

Size:  56 mm high

Stopper:  Agate stopper and bone spoon

Provenance:  See Provenance of ceramic bottle G35

References:  An agate bottle of similar shape is in the Blair bequest at the Princeton University Art Museum, see last picture.

Notes:  A similar bottle has been dated by Robert Hall to late 18th century to mid-19th century, and commented as follow: “The simple rectilinear shape was a popular one from the late eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century, and can be found in porcelain and metal as well as jade and other hardstones. Early examples may have been intended as medicine bottles, the flat panels designed to take a label describing the contents. The origin of this design possibly comes from a shape popular for tea caddies of the time”.

The overall shape of the bottle, the strangled neck and the ratio between the diameters of the mouth opening and the neck of this bottle is pointing toward the 18^th Century, hence our attribution.