AN EARLY MALACHITE ‘WAVES’ SNUFF BOTTLE, 1750-1850Plain malachite with a superb manual surface polishChina, 1750-1850This is one of the few early malachite bottles that have appeared on the market during the past two or three decades. It shows all the typical features of 18th century hardstone bottles, such as a simple yet perfectly executed hand-polish, an excellent hollowing and a well-balanced shape to name just a few. The design of this bottle ‘only’ serves two purposes, and these in a nearly ideal manner: The consumption of snuff and the display of the natural beauty of the mineral.Malachite snuff bottles are rare, considering how readily available the material must have been. It is likely that its softness and brittleness may have depleted an originally larger body of examples, as with other fragile stones. On top of that it may also be that it was simply not used so often for carving bottles, which may be the reason why the stone was not mentioned by Zhao Zhiqian in the 1860s (The Journal of the International Snuff Bottle Society, Autumn 1991).Malachite is a hydrated copper carbonate occurring typically in the oxidation zone of copper deposits where it is associated with other ores of copper and is the product of their alteration. It is a soft stone, about 4 on the Mohs scale, and easily scratched with a steel blade. Of widespread occurrence, it is found as a rule wherever copper appears, such as in Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Tibet, and Yunnan, where there are extensive deposits. Some of these areas became major producers of malachite only in recent times, such as Yangchun in Guangdong for example, where mining only began in 1966. But in any case, the odd piece was certainly picked up in some of these areas and presented to the court long before systematic production began. Malachite actually is even found at the sites of Shang dynasty copper works and was also ground up and used in as a pigment for architectural painting and other applications.Shape: Rounded and flattened rectangular shapeHollowing: ExcellentMouth, neck and lip: Short cylindric neck, convex top, slanted lip, small mouthBase: Oval raised and rounded foot rimDesign, marks, school: Possibly imperial, see literature comparisonStopper: Coral stopper with good original platelet and spoonHeight of the bottle with stopper: 6.3 cm.Width of the mouth: 6 mm.Width of the neck: 17 mm.Weight: 85,8 gramsCondition: Excellent original condition with minor natural flaws to the mineral and some wear as expected on a bottle of this ageProvenance: American private collectionLiterature comparison: Early malachite bottles are rare, and considerably harder to find than, for instance, early turquoise bottles. Bob C. Stevens, The Collectors Book of Chinese Snuff Bottles, 1976, illustrates only two (nos. 629 and 669) while including ten early turquoise bottles. For other examples of this rare group, see Friedman 1990, no. 59; Lawrence 1996, no. 34; Sotheby's, London, 24 April 1989, lot 432, and Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 1, p. 19, middle left.Auction result comparison: SNUFF BOTTLES FROM THE MARY AND GEORGE BLOCH COLLECTION, Part I. Bonham's, Hong Kong, 28 May 2010, lot 86.孔雀石波浪紋鼻烟壺,1750-1850孔雀石,表面抛光極好中國, 1750-1850壺型: 圓肩扁平矩形掏膛: 極好壺口、頸與唇部:短頸,凸頂,撇唇,小口底足: 橢圓淺圈足造型、落款及流派:或爲御製壺蓋: 珊瑚蓋,原裝小杓壺高(含壺蓋):6.3 厘米口徑: 6 毫米壺頸寬:17 毫米重量: 85,8 克品相: 原始狀態極好,些微磨損,與年代相符來源: 美國私人收藏