Description
Nephrite of flawless white colour; with a wide mouth and extremely well hollowed, supported on a crisply carved raised foot rim of elongated oval section,each side carved in low relief with a pair of kui dragons, their heads confronted on a minute pearl, their angular bodies filling the entire surface and filled with raised bosses and interlinked comma scrolls, possibly Imperial.
Confronted kui dragons, with their archaic inspiration, were one of the staple designs on snuff bottles made for the courtand the confidence with which the pattern is carved shows the hand of a master-carver. A bottle with an almost identical pattern is illustrated in Treasury 1, no. 29.
