Lot 443, A carved root amber snuff bottle, 1750-1860. Estimate $8,000 – $10,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

The bottle is carved with a dense design of squirrels on rocks and amidst leafy grape vines, and with a mask-and-ring handle on each narrow side. 2 ½ in. (6.3 cm.) high, jadeite stopper

Provenance: Robert Hall, London, 2012.
Hugh Moss (HK) Ltd., Hong Kong, 2012.
Ruth and Carl Barron Collection, Belmont, Massachusetts, no. 5413.

Notes: One of the exotic materials used for snuff bottles, amber is the translucent fossilized resin of ancient coniferous trees from the Tertiary period. Three main varieties of amber were used: a range of transparent brown, golden-brown and reddish amber; a yellow, cloudy amber associated with the Baltic; and 'root amber', such as this bottle, where the range of material has inclusions of opaque yellow-ochre and brown colors. 'Root' amber, is so called because it was believed that the resin combines with clay at the root of the tree to obtain its color. However, it is more likely that the color is the result of a chemical process.

Amber was valued long before the snuff-bottle era and was considered to be a symbol of longevity, since it was known to have lain in the ground being transformed over a long period of time. It would have become a popular material for snuff bottles from very early in the development of the art-form.

As squirrels have large litters, the depiction of a squirrel with trailing vines on this bottle may be a visual rebus for a wish for many sons and the continuation of the family line, the winding vines representing the family lineage. It has also been suggested that the squirrel and grape-vine motif conveys a wish for promotion to a higher rank.

Christie's. THE RUTH AND CARL BARRON COLLECTION OF FINE CHINESE SNUFF BOTTLES: PART II, 16 March 2016, New York, Rockefeller Plaza