A spinach-green jade ‘eggplant’ snuff bottle, probably Imperial, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong-Jiaqing Period . Photo Sotheby's 

well hollowed and carved in the form of an eggplant; the coral stopper carved as a twig.6 cm., 2 3/8  in. Estimation 45,000 — 65,000. Lot vendu: 212,500 HKD

PROVENANCE: Robert Hall, London, 1989

EXHIBITED: Chinese Snuff Bottles in the Collection of Mary and George Bloch, The British Museum, London, 1995, cat. no. 91.Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997.

LITTERATURE: Hugh Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff Bottles: The Mary and George Bloch Collection, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 72.

NOTE: This is an exceptional eggplant bottle for several reasons. The entire carving is from a single piece of stone, which is the exception to the general rule of the imperial sets. It is also of spinach-green nephrite, whereas the standard type is of white nephrite with only the separate calyx carved from spinach-green material.The counterpoint of the carefully ribbed calyx and the sensuous bulb of the fruit is also a major part of the decorative appeal.The material is probably from the Lake Baikal area of Russia, imported after the mid-nineteenth century, when Yaqub Beg replaced Qing rule in the Tarim Basin and the nephrite trade dwindled.

Sotheby's. Snuff Bottles from the Mary and George Bloch Collection: Part VI. Hong Kong | 27 mai 2013 - www.sothebys.com