Snuff bottle, carving, agate, China, 1800-1895
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1800-1895
The bottle is an oblong flattened flask form with shoulders sloping up to a wide cylindrical neck and a dome-shaped stopper. It is made of moss agate, green and grey, with green skin carved in relief.
The stopper is made of carnelian set in metal (narrower than the neck and probably not original to this bottle, though attached to it by the time of its acquisition in 1910). The carving depicts a bird on a rock beneath a pine tree. The foot has an angular indentation underneath. The skin is carved to form the pictorial decoration; the back of the bottle is left plain. The oblong shape suggests a nineteenth-century date.
Bequeathed by Mr. George Salting, accessioned in 1910.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- moss agate, green and grey, carnelian, metal
- Dimensions
- Height: 5.5 cm
Technical characteristics
- Place recorded
- China
Identification
- Source note
- Transcribed from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London collection record for this single object (sentences kept verbatim apart from removed sale or rarity wording); how far it represents a wider collectible type has not been independently verified.
- Candidate id
- vam-O8664
- Museum object name
- Snuff bottle
- Holding institution
- Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Museum object number
- C.1738&A-1910
- Museum system number
- O8664
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm the wider type, maker and dating against a specialist reference; this entry documents one recorded example.