A SMALL CHINESE JADE SNUFF BOTTLE

£1,000 - £2,000 £1,400

A SMALL CHINESE JADE SNUFF BOTTLE
QIANLONG 1736-95

Attributed to the Beijing Palace workshops, the pale greyish stone well carved depicting a carp transforming into a dragon, with fins to the back and the sides, the scales incised, 4.5cm.

Provenance: an English private collection, formerly from the collection of Mei Lin, purchased from Robert Kleiner & Co. Ltd., 20th June 2000, a copy of the invoice is available.

The dragon carp is a symbol of a candidate passing the Imperial examinations and qualifying as an official. This is based on the carp which were observed swimming up the Yellow River to leap the Longmen Falls, an extremely arduous task, upon successful completion of which the fish were transformed into dragons.