Lot 1169. A carved yellow jade snuff bottle, Imperial, Palace Workshops, Beijing, 1730-1800; 2 3/16 in. (5.6 cm.) high. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 32,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.

Of flattened form with a flat lip and recessed foot surrounded by a foot rim, the narrow sides carved with mask and ring handles, the stone of greenish-yellow tone with a few white and russet inclusions, glass stopper. 

Provenance: Roger Mereffrey, Governor of Indochina and French Ambassador to Beijing; collected in China circa 1890-1950.

Note: A similar 18th century pebble-form white jade snuff bottle with nearly identical stopper, carved on one side with a scene of a sage amidst pine and bearing the signature Zigang, was sold Christie's, Swire, Hong Kong, 22 March 1993, lot 509, and is now in the collection of The British Museum. See J. Rawson, Chinese Jade From the Neolithic to the Qing, London, 1995, p. 401, no. 29:15.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Including Property from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections. 26 March 2010. New York, Rockefeller Plaza