Snuff bottle, chalcedony, China, 1750-1895

People generally carried snuff in a small bottle. The bottle is a heart-shaped flattened flask form curving to a narrow base and a dome-shaped stopper. It is made of chalcedony, brown, with dark brown inclusions and white skin. The stopper jadeite jade, set in gilt copper alloy. The decoration depicts a bearded man standing at the parapet of a fortified pavilion; below is a boy sweeping; rocks and clouds.

There is no separate foot with a narrow oval base with indentation underneath. The white skin is used for the carved decoration; the reverse is left uncarved as the dark brown inclusions provided natural decoration. Previously illustrated in Bob Stevens, The collector's book of snuff bottles, (Weatherhill, New York, 1976), p. 147, no. 583. The decoration is a scene known as 'The empty city' from 'The romance of the three kingdoms' . It shows Zhuge Liang on the watchtower with his boy sweeping below, a double bluff to suggest to the attacking army that they are about to enter a trap, when in fact the city has no soldiers to defend it .

Bequeathed by Mr. George Salting, accessioned in 1910.